It was a tale of two halves at Hannah Park in the 4th round of the South Challenge Cup which seen home side, Shotts Bon Accord knock out The Buffs by 3 goals to 2. Despite a fairly dominant second half performance from The Buffs the damage was done in the first 45 after some weak defending and lackluster attacking.
It was a slow start from both sides with very little being created for the best part of 15 minutes other than a few dangerous cross balls from Shotts which no one managed to get on the end of. The Buffs were attempting to build an attack out from the back but looked as if they were lacking ideas and creativity causing a series of meaningless passes between central defenders and goalkeeper. The deadlock was broken in the 13th minute when Shotts, number 7, Ben Richford latched onto a through ball before knocking the ball one way and running the other around Jack Maccalman. Jack seemed to stop as if he thought Dylan Brown in the Buffs net would be out to sweep up and clear, but Dylan was hesitant allowing Richford to pick up the ball before taking it past Brown and scoring. Soon after, some more passive football from The Buffs lead to captain Bryan Boylan being dispossessed on the halfway line by opposition centre back, Meikle. Meikle then played a long diagonal ball to the Shotts right winger who cut inside and slid the ball through to striker Alistair small. The striker made no mistake with his finish as he cutely placed the ball into the near bottom corner to double the home side’s lead. 5 minutes later, with their first shot on goal, The Buffs managed to reduce the deficit when Shotts failed to properly clear a corner which allowed Nathan Lennox to head the ball back into the box where Dylan Duncan was on hand to fire into the top left corner with a first-time volley. Just as The Buffs thought they had given themselves a lifeline in the match, Shotts strolled towards The Buffs box with ease before playing a simple back post cross to captain Alistair Martin who had time to take a touch before passing the ball past Brown from very close range to reinstall Shotts’ 2 goal advantage heading into the half time interval.
The first 25 minutes of the second half brought more of the same from a Buffs perspective as the visitors looked so toothless and subdued going forward whilst Shotts looked comfortable sitting back and defending their lead. Finally, with around 15 to go The buffs jolted into life when a corner allowed Lamont to cross into the box where Bryan Boylan leapt and powered the ball past the goalkeeper with his head to set up an interesting end to the match. The Buffs began to go more direct and asserted dominance in the game as they pinned the home side in their own half forcing a series of dangerous Buffs corners. First it was Lawrence Hendry who had a great chance to level, but his header was somehow tipped over the bar by Sandy Thomson in the Shotts goal. Then it was, substitute, Jack McMahon’s turn as the ball fell to him in the box after some clumsy defending by the Premier division side. Jack couldn’t quite bundle the ball over the line and some more heroic Shotts defending just about preserved their precarious lead. Buffs final roll of the dice and chance came when Conor McLaughlin floated the ball into the path of Jack McMahon whose touch took him just too close to the goalkeeper which allowed Thomson to smother Jack’s attempt to give Shotts the hard-fought victory.
Overall, it was a very frustrating day at the office for Kelly’s men who will look back on the tie with regret after a very poor first 60 minutes made completing the comeback just out of his side’s reach. More importantly everyone at the club would like to wish midfielder Blair MacIntyre a speedy recovery after Blair was taken to hospital following an injury suffered to his right leg in the 35th minute of the match
