It was a dream start not only in the game but the whole season for The Buffs as Bryan Boylan netted within the first minute of the campaign against Ardrossan Winton Rovers. It was a great passage of play directly from kick off which led to Blair Macintyre receiving the ball on the right-hand side before hitting a cross-field ball which found Bryan Boylan who struck the ball over the goalkeeper with a first-time finish on his left foot. The goal was followed by what was probably The Buffs’ best period of the entire game through a series of attacks mainly coming down the left flank through the work of new signing, left back Chris Bell and his teammates. Conor Mclaughlin also controlled many of the early exchanges by dropping in and picking the ball up from the defence before driving his side up the park. However, the ball spent large parts of the first 45 either out the park or in the air as the game turned fairly frantic as both sides began to go more direct. Winton had several corners throughout the first half however not much was created by either side other than a great chance for Bryan Boylan to double his tally for the day which was miss-hit.
There was another early goal this time in the second half as former Buffs man Ryan Wilson found lots of space in the box from a cross before taking a touch and lofting the ball over Mateusz Miller in The Buffs goal. The Buffs defence, which performed excellently, will probably feel quite disappointed in themselves as The Winton forward had too much time to control the ball before pulling the trigger, although there was a big shout for a possible offside that was denied by the referee. The Winton kept up the pressure following their goal, but The Buffs remained resolute and continued to work hard to deny any clear goalscoring opportunities. As legs got tired towards the end of a game
that both sides put 110% into the tempo began to drop and the game became even more scrapy than it already was as the ball seen even more time in the air than before. The Buffs had a few half-chances as the time ticked away but other than a Jack McMahon effort that was brilliantly blocked by the recovering Winton defender there wasn’t much to write home about. Ardrossan managed to muster up a few half-chances of their own late in the day and even struck the post from a strike from outside the box.
Overall, a draw was probably the fair result in what was an entertaining battle between 2 very hardworking sides which could lead to being a very valuable point for both sides in what looks to be a league that could be won by anybody. A positive start to the Kevin Kelly reign as he will now lead his new look Buffs side to Ashfield midweek in search of his first 3 points as Buffs manager.
