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Match Report : Whitletts Vics

ANNBANK UNITED 1 - WHITLETTS VICTORIA 0

A Colin Granger goal midway through the second half gave Annbank United the honours in this South Ayrshire derby at New Pebble Park. In an evenly contested match where both sides had chances, it was clear that only one goal was going to separate the sides and it came in the 64th minute. As the visitors defence failed to clear a corner kick the ball was headed back across goal where Granger knocked the ball home from inside the six yard box.

In a frantic start to the match referee Davis Milton waved aside Vics appeals for a penalty for handball in the opening minute. Whitletts No 1 Ally McInnes pulled off a fine save to deny a Jamie Ballantyne header while at the other end Niall Kennedy drove the ball wide from a Paul Cameron lay off. The frantic pace of the game didn’t let up with Vics enjoying a greater share of possession but the only other chance of note in the first period came when from a Raymond Buchanan clearance, Kennedy raced clear only for Marc Fisher in the Annbank goal to save his netbound angled drive with his feet. In terms of clear cut chances, it wasn’t until the second half that both sides began to threaten. Kennedy should have done better when he was set up by a mazy Chris Black run but the big striker fired over with only Fisher to beat.

Only a last gasp Danny Cunningham challenge denied Annbank’s Jamie Martin as he looked set to score while the Vics’ defender came close to giving his side the lead as the Bankies defence failed to clear a Cameron corner but Cunningham’s volley went narrowly past. Almost immediately Bankies broke upfield and from a corner themselves, Granger gave them the lead. That goal gave the home side a boost and for the next ten minutes they took the game to Vics. McInnes made a fine save to turn aside a Martin free kick that fizzed across goal and the Vics keeper again kept his side in the game as he turned a Luke McCowan drive over the crossbar. Whitletts rallied and Fisher was quick to react to block a Craig Harvey effort while from a Harvey corner kick, Cameron kept the ball in play and Sean Ewart should have done better than to head over the crossbar with the goal at his mercy.

As Vics pressed forward, Bankies played on the counter attack and Roddy Paterson saw his attempted cross drift inches wide while substitute Jai Holland saw his deflected shot from the edge off the box come back off the post late on as the home side withstood the late Vics pressure to take the points.

Annbank United 1. Fisher 2. Waite 3. Hainey 4. Ballantyne 5, Granger 6. Sloan 7. Martin 8. Faulds 9. Paterson 10. Wilson (Holland 79) 11. McCowan. (Wilson 83) Subs (not used) 16. Connelly

Whitletts Victoria 1. McInnes 2. Anderson 3. Ewart 4. Buchanan (McFall 71) 5. Cunningham 6. Sloan 7. Boyd (Campbell 66) 8. Black 9. Cameron 10. Kennedy (Balfour 66) 11. Harvey

Referee: David Milton