It was a proper old fashioned cup tie at Buffs Park, in the 2nd round of the Indigo Comms West of Scotland Cup, which seen Kilwinning Rangers eventually run out 4-2 winners over Glasgow United thanks to goals from Bryan Boylan, Jack McMahon and a brace from Mark Lamont.
The away side had the better start in the game and should’ve taken the lead early on from a glorious chance. It was untidy in buildup from Aaron Boyd whose short pass back to Dylan Brown was cut out on the left side of the box by United forward Goodwillie, Goodwillie squared the ball along the line but there was nobody in a black shirt on hand to finish which allowed Jack Maccalman to half clear the ball. Jack’s clearance only made it as far as the edge of the box where it was intercepted by Glasgow Utd’s Shvan Nuri who played in Daniel Irvine at the back post. Somehow Irvine skied his effort over the bar missing the open goal by a distance. Buffs first attack of the game came in the 20th minute when a Jack Maccalman long throw, from well inside The Buffs half sailed in behind the Glasgow defence where Fraser Malcolm latched onto it. Fraser drove towards the box but was tackled in doing so, fortunately the ball fell into the path of Mark Lamont who took a touch before finessing the ball into the top right corner to break the deadlock. Another chance fell the way of Lamont soon after when Boylan drove down the left wing before setting the ball back to Mark, around 25 yards from goal, who hammered one first time towards the top right corner ,however, the powerful strike was denied by a brilliant diving save from Paul Everett in the Glasgow goal. It was chaos in The Buffs’ box when a free kick was hit which Dylan Brown failed to fully deal with and the visitors would’ve been level if it wasn’t for some heroic defending from central defender Lawrence Hendry on The Buffs goal line. Buffs second big chance of the match came when Lawrence Hendry play a long diagonal ball to Bryan Boylan on the left wing which was flicked on. The ball looked like it was just heading for the Glasgow goalkeeper until Fraser Malcolm nicked in front which left the goalkeeper no choice but to bring the striker down, giving The Buffs a penalty. Marrk Lamont stepped up to take the penalty and confidently chipped the ball down the middle for his second of the game, giving his team a 2-0 lead heading into half time.
The Buffs started the second half poorly and were caught out on a few occasions by the visitors leading to them eventually being punished. United’s first chance of the half came when Goodwillie played an excellent switch ball into the path of Callen Brown who volleyed the ball first time, forcing Dylan to make a good save with his feet. A clever free kick routine from the east end side left them a free man on the left wing who was passed the ball before crossing into the centre of the box where left back Anson Lung headed into the net. With the score at 2-1 Mark Lamont had a golden opportunity to get his hat-trick and seal the game for The Buffs when Bryan Boylan beat the goalkeeper to the ball and squared it to Lamont who blazed over the top of the open net. The underdog visitors did get a deserved equalizer when prolific front-man David Goodwillie was slid in behind, between, Caldwell and Ballantyne before finishing the ball into the side netting past the helpless Dylan Brown. Bryan Boylan did have the ball in the net to retake the lead for The Buffs, but it was disallowed by the referee for offside. With just 10 minutes left on the clock Nathan Lennox played a great, floated, ball into the back post area where the unmarked Bryan Boylan headed past Everett into the goal. Finally, The Buffs killed the tie off when a hopeful long ball caused a mistake at the back for Glasgow United where Sana Salar seemingly headed the ball out of his goalkeeper’s hands leaving Jack McMahon with an open goal which he finished into.
The Buffs made it hard for themselves in the second half after a fairly comfortable first period but at the end of the day it’s another cup win for Kevin Kelly’s men which lands themselves a place in the 3rd round draw.
