It was a really frustrating day for The Buffs at Ladywell Stadium as silly mistakes cost them the chance of taking 3 important points home with them, instead having to settle for a 3-3 draw and a point a piece.
It was a perfect start for The Buffs as Bryan Boylan opened the scoring within the first minute of the game. It was some neat play between, new signing, Fraser Malcolm and Adam Caldwell on the right wing for The Buffs which allowed Caldwell to swing a ball in towards the centre of the box, Boylan out jumped both opposition centre backs before brilliantly glancing a header into the far corner. The Buffs’ lead only lasted until the 14th minute, however, when a miscommunication between Conor Mclaughlin and Mateusz Miller meant Miller could only half clear the ball as far as Maybole talisman Gerard Clark who placed the ball into the back of the empty Buffs net from around 20 yards out. Buffs only other real chance of the half came from some good play in midfield when Boylan passed round the corner to Lamont, Mark Lamont then slipped in Malcolm who hit the ball first time with his left foot from just outside the area. Malcolm’s effort was well saved by Scott Johnstone in the opposition goal, but he could only parry the ball into the path of Mclaughlin, somehow Johnstone managed to get himself back up and saved the rebound attempt from Conor to keep the scores level. The only other notable event from the, scrappy, first half came toward the end when a loose ball fell the way of a Maybole midfielder who chipped over the, disjointed, Buffs defence for Gerard Clark, Clark managed to get on the end of it before rounding Miller and passing into the back of the empty net for the second time in the match.
It was a very uncharacteristic first half from The Buffs who would’ve been desperate to come out in the second and put things right, which, to an extent, they did. 5 minutes into the second half Fraser Malcolm received the ball with his back to goal in the centre of the pitch, Fraser turned his man well before lashing a powerful shot towards goal from around the 35 yard mark which, the unexpectant Johnstone in goals did all he could to get across but he had no hope of keeping the incredible strike out of the goal with the ball finding the bottom right hand side of the net in what was a dream debut moment for, striker, Malcolm. Malcolm thought he had his brace just after when Boylan dribbled down the left wing before driving a cross into the edge of the 6-yard area where Malcolm managed to connect and send it goalward. The Bole goalkeeper did just enough to make himself as big as possible to deny the brace for Fraser. The Buffs had seemed to have found their groove by this point and nearly took the lead when Jack Maccalman floated a hopeful cross in from the edge of the box, Jack’s cross evaded everyone before bouncing off the foot of the right post and back into the hands of the thankful Scott Johnstone in goal. The Maybole woodwork was called into action again soon after when Bryan took a great touch which got him past the whole Maybole defence, but Bryan’s left footed effort cracked the near post from the left side of the box. Bryan had another chance to put The Buffs in front when Malcolm played a reverse ball into his path, setting him through on goal, but Bryan’s following strike was blazed well over the bar. Buffs’ final chance of the day came when Mark Lamont crossed in from a corner which met the head of a Buffs attacker and looked bound for the top right corner until the Bole number one managed to pull off a great diving save to keep it out, the ball then dropped in the centre of the box where Jamie Ballantyne slid in to blast the ball into the roof of The Maybole goalkeeper to give Buffs the lead with 10 minutes remaining. Maybole earned a corner of their own straight from kick off which was put straight into the middle of the box which seen the occurrence of a scramble with the ball eventually being bundled into the back of the Buffs net by substitute Stephen Wilson. It could’ve been much worse for The Buffs if it wasn’t for a heroic goal line clearance from Ballantyne in the dying seconds of the game.
Overall, Kevin Kelly will feel his side missed a big opportunity to win and reduce the gap between the sides to 3 points after they were made to rue some big defensive mistakes. Next week its another cup game as The Buffs welcome Glasgow United in Round 2 of The Indigo Comms West of Scotland Cup.
