The Buffs’ tough start to the season continued at home to Cumnock as “The Nock” left Buffs Park with 3 points after Alex McCaw scored the only goal in the tight contest in less than ideal, blustery conditions. The game lacked any true quality from either side, with chances few and far between across the 90.
The wind proved to be a tough challenge for the Buffs to deal with early on, with multiple Cumnock corners almost bending directly into the Buffs’ goal in the opening exchanges. Goalkeeper Glen Cameron was forced to save the ball onto the woodwork twice from corners in the early stages with strong gusts of wind blowing directly into the Buffs’ half.
The sole goal of the game came in the first 5 minutes when the ball was crossed in towards the back post from the right-hand side. The Buffs defence seemed to misjudge the flight of the cross, which allowed Cumnock winger, Alex McCaw, to beat his man and head into the back of the net from close range.
Buffs’ first half chance of the game came when Logan Burgess played a great pass in behind the Cumnock defence for Olly Smith. Olly chased down Logan’s ball and made it to the byline before playing a low ball across the box, which rolled just past the reach of Ryan Wilson and to the back post, where it was cleared by the Nock defence.
Cameron would be called into action once again, in the Buffs’ goal, when a Cumnock counter-attack caught The Buffs out. The Nock broke forward down the right-hand side of the pitch with ease and made it all the way to the Buffs’ box, where every Buffs defender got attracted to the ball, which left McCaw all on his own across the box. The ball was squared to McCaw, who took a touch before shooting towards Glen Cameron’s left, which forced the goalkeeper into making a great save.
The final chance of the half would fall the Buffs’ way through some good work by Olly Smith on the right wing. Smith dribbled past his man and into the box before firing a powerful effort across goal, where Cumnock goalkeeper, Currie, could only push the ball back into a dangerous area at the left post. Chris Bell looked to slide in to finish, but was defended excellently by Jon Craig, who just stuck a foot out to nick the ball away from Bell.
The second half would contain even less action than the first, with only 2 real chances being created after the half-time interval. The first would come for The Buffs when Ryan Wilson managed to get on the end of a loose long ball before Currie, who came charging off his goal line. Ryan tried to hit a shot first-time, but it was saved well by the goalkeeper; however, the rebound would fall to Boylan around 25 yards from goal, who tried to strike into the empty net with an early effort but was defended well by Cumnock right back, Craig.
The only other chance of the half fell the way of the visitors when a quick break down the right wing left Jamie Conn in a 1v1 with Jack Maccalman. Conn made it a long way from the half-way line before eventually getting a shot off as he hit an effort back across Cameron’s goal. Glen got a hand to it but could only push the ball as far as Forde, who looked set to score but was dealt with well by Kyle Chrystal. Chrystal managed to block the striker’s shot but could not clear, leaving the rebound to fall to McCaw, who tried his luck at goal from a tight angle, but Blair MacIntyre was on hand to block acrobatically.
Despite improvement from last week, the Buffs didn’t have enough to sustain a period of dominance in the game and failed to show much quality on the ball when attempting to penetrate a solid Cumnock structure. The Buffs now must turn their attention to Tuesday night for another difficult test against Drumchapel.
