It was derby day delight for The Buffs at Meadow Park as they hit the Irvine side for 4 to win the game 3-4. The score flatters the home side after a very comfortable first 80 minutes for The Buffs with Medda scoring 2 goals in the final minutes to set up a nervy finish to the game for Kevin Kelly’s team.
It was an incredibly scrappy start to the game with the tough gusty conditions preventing either side from taking control of the game. The first chance of the game came when Jack Maccalman launched a long throw down the right wing which Bryan Boylan managed to leap and flick on into, strike partner, Jack McMahon. Just as Jack prepared to pull the trigger a Meadow defender managed to get back in and nick the ball away before Jack could let loose. The Buffs looked the more dangerous of the sides in the opening stages and eventually broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute. Mark Lamont picked the ball up in space in the midfield before playing the ball down the left channel for Boylan to run onto. Bryan got to the byline and crossed with his left foot into the near post where Jack McMahon nodded in, to take the lead and finish a brilliant passing move from The Buffs. The lead was nearly doubled soon after when Boylan got down the left wing again before crossing, this time, towards the back post to Aaron Boyd. Boyd took a touch before laying the ball back to Lamont on the edge of the box whose first time effort went well over the bar thanks to a bobble just as Mark lined up the strike. With Mark Lamont at the heart of everything, The Buffs had stamped clear dominance on the game and went close to scoring again when Lamont powered a free kick at Jamie Barclay who could only tip the ball over the bar. The Medda looked fairly helpless and were struggling to deal with The Buffs attack whilst struggling to create much for themselves other than a few cross balls which The Buffs defence dealt with tenaciously. With just minutes remaining in the first half, both Jacks, McMahon and Maccalman, went inches from giving The Buffs some breathing space heading into the interval. Josh Winton picked the ball up on the left side of the box, from the breakdown of a corner, and delicately chipped into the back post where both McMahon and Maccalman just couldn’t get their heads on the end of the cross leaving the ball to harmlessly bounce out for a goal kick. Just as it looked like it would be 0-1 going into half time Jack Maccalman prepared a long throw into the centre of the box where, youth academy products, Campbell McLean headed towards goal before Jack McMahon flicked the ball into the back of the net for his second of the game to give The Buffs a well-deserved 0-2 lead.
The Medda were the better side in the early instances and got their opening goal of the game when Euan Baird hammered into the net after some sloppy defending from The Buffs. Bryan Boylan headed away from a corner, but the ball was just fired straight back into the box which seemingly led to all of The Buffs defenders being attracted to blocking the shot leaving Baird free on the right side of the box to just finish past Brown from the second ball. However, it didn’t take The Buffs long to restore their 2 goal advantage when Bryan Boylan scored just minutes later. Conor McLaughlin drove the ball out of midfield and slid Jack McMahon in, down the right wing. Jack skinned Medda defender, Dean Currie, with ease before crossing into the box. What happened after could only be described as chaos with the ball eventually finding its way to the feet of Bryan who took a touch before firing low into the bottom left corner of the Medda goal. Just 10 minutes later the ball was in the back of the Irvine Meadow net once again, this time, thanks to Mark Lamont. The ball was moved brilliantly down the right hand side between McMahon and Boylan which allowed Boylan the space to pick out an excellent first-time chipped pass into the path of Lamont. Lamont turned Currie inside out then struck the ball goalwards and eventually into the back of the net after it deflected off George Sewell. After scoring their 4th and a few substitutions, the Buffs seemed to switch off which allowed Medda to pull one back after a deep free kick was lofted into the box by David Anderson. Anderson’s cross bounced off one of Meadow’s attackers before falling into the path of Simon McBryde who stretched out and tapped the ball past Brown to give The Medda a glimmer of hope with 5 minutes left on the clock. Buffs fans’ nerves were then heightened even further when Jamie Ballantyne made a clumsy challenge in the box to give Medda a penalty. Captain Anderson stepped up to take the penalty and made no mistake, placing the ball high into the top right corner of The Buffs’ net to reduce the deficit to just one goal for the remaining minutes of injury time. Medda were now throwing everything they had at The Buffs in an attempt to salvage an unlikely draw, even sending goalkeeper Jamie Barclay up for corners. Incredibly it was, ex Buffs man, Barclay who had the chance to equalise when a corner found his head in the box, but his header was blocked and cleared out of The Buffs box to confirm that the 3 points were being taken back to Kilwinning with The Buffs.
