Hat-trick hero Jack McMahon secured a pivotal 2-3 victory for The Buffs at Hamish B Allan stadium after an excellent, battling, performance from Kevin Kelly’s side. Despite a fairly comfortable first 85+ minutes for The Buffs a Ryan McManus goal set up a grand slam finish in which The Glens just couldn’t get a 3rd goal to nick a point late in the day.
The Buffs had the brighter start of the two sides when Jack McMahon held the ball up well before laying the ball out to the left wing for Boylan who had acres of space in front of him. Bryan drove to the byline before floating a cross to the back post for Cammy Kerr who sent his volley well over the bar.
Jack Maccalman’s long throw terrified the Glen’s defence throughout the 90 and first came into play within 2 minutes when he launched the ball towards the goal over Kieran McDougall in The Glens net. McMahon was waiting to tap the ball into the net at the back post, but the ball was headed off the line and away just before McMahon could finish.
The warning signs were there from early doors for The Glens but they failed to adjust their approach to defending the long throw and It was once again a Maccalman throw in from left that made it all the way across to the back post where, this time, it found the head of Jack McMahon who nodded in to score his first of the day and break the deadlock within 4 minutes.
McMahon had the ball in the net again soon after when Mark Lamont crossed into the box from deep. Lamont’s cross swirled all the way over the goalkeeper where it found Jack McMahon who put the ball into the empty net but was adjudged to have strayed into an offside position by Referee Conor Greenan.
Rutherglen’s first attempt of the match came around the 10th minute when captain, Mclaughlin cut in from the right side of the box before shooting but his effort was comfortably caught by Dylan Brown.
The Buffs had a chance to double their lead when Sean Mcgreer picked out Cammy Kerr in midfield excellently with a driven pass which allowed Kerr to step forward towards goal before dribbling past his man and unleashing an effort aimed towards the top left of the goal. McDougall done well to save Keer’s attempt but could only parry the ball back into the centre of the box where Dylan Duncan got ever so close to tapping the rebound into the net.
The Buffs had looked comfortable in the match so far with The Glens failing to create much until defender Lawrence Hendry was dragged out of position on the edge of the box which allowed, forward, Jack Mcllveen to pick up the ball in space. Mcllveen had time to set up the shot before firing the ball low into the bottom left corner past, the stretching, Dylan Brown to equalise for Rutherglen.
It didn’t take long for The Buffs to re-take the lead after the Rutherglen defence failed to deal with a long, direct ball by Hendry. The ball made it over the top of The Glen’s defence and into the path of Bryan Boylan who shot a half volley across goal which McDougall managed to tip onto the post. Unfortunately for the goalkeeper the ball bounced back off the post and landed at the feet of Mcmahon who hammered home to give The Buffs the leading heading into the interval.
The Buffs started the second half just as they did in the first when a Jack Maccalman long throw found the head of Jack McMahon in the centre of the box. Jack’s header looped over everyone in the box and into the back of the net to complete the homegrown striker’s hat-trick, giving The Buffs a 2-goal cushion in the process.
The second half was much cagier than the first with chances being few and far between for the most part. Boylan did have a decent chance when he leapt highest at the front post and connected really well with a Lamont corner. Boylan’s header looked destined for the far bottom corner but was cleared off the line by Sean McGuire just as it looked like The Buffs were going to seal the game.
McMahon had a chance to net his fourth of the game when the ball was cleared high into the air by The Buffs defence which caused chaos at the back for the Rutherglen goalkeeper. McDougall tried to come out and claim the ball but was shielded off by McMahon leaving the goalkeeper stranded at the edge of the box. Jack turned before shooting towards goal, but he dragged his attempt just wide of the left post.
The game became very scrappy towards the end with both sides fighting for every ball. It was all or nothing time for Rutherglen and they gave themselves a lifeline when Ryan McManus received the ball with his back to goal from around 25 yards from goal. McManus turned and hit a strange looping volley over the top of brown and into the right side of the net to reduce the deficit to one with minutes to play.
The Glen’s were throwing everything they had at The Buffs in hope of finding a dramatic equaliser and created one last chance when the ball was whipped into the box from the left wing. Jarvie came crashing into the box and got his head onto the cross, but his header was heroically tipped over the bar by Dylan Brown to save the important 3 points for The Buffs.
It took a valiant performance from a depleted Buffs side to secure the 3 points for Kevin Kelly’s side who deployed a more direct and aggressive approach on the day which worked to great effect for the Buffs. The result leaves The Buffs in a great position in the promotion battle but still with plenty of work left to be done between now and the end of the season.