DUNLOP BOUNCES BACK

GLENAFTON ATHLETIC 4  KILMARNOCK 1

Such is Andy Dunlop’s long association with Glenafton Athletic that he appeared to emerge from the bricks of Loch Park clubhouse to be greeted by the guard of honour formed by his Glenafton team-mates and their opponents Kilmarnock, who had kindly agreed to provide the opposition for his testimonial match.  Of course the ‘Hunter Pavilion’ has thus far served the club for a mere seven years, whilst Andy can claim a Glenafton pedigree of three-fold those years. Indeed the guard of honour was heavily populated with players who were only a twinkle in their parents’ eyes when Andy first twinkled his toes on the Loch Park turf.

The Glens starting eleven captained by Willie Howie contained no fewer than five of Gordon Dalziel’s summer signings – Andy Gow, Steven McGregor, Kevin Deeney, Simon Eeles and Stephen Whalen; whilst Andy must have thought the clock had been turned back when Stevie Agnew took up the left-back position, a role that Aggie once claimed as his own.

Kilmarnock are not without their own loyal servants and none more so than Alan Robertson who made 585 appearances for the club (and still holds the club record for league appearances) from 1972 through to 1989. Now the Youth Coach at Killie and in charge of the side today his starting eleven comprised a number of players from his U19’s team and several with first team experience including captain for today Rhiann Dodds, Eric Skora (in his second spell with the club) and Aime Koudou; whilst in goals was Damien Rascle, formerly on French side Toulouse’s books and currently on trial with Kilmarnock.

It proved to be an eventful day for Damien and the Omens were not good when the Glens started to turn their midfield supremacy into the first real goal scoring chances of the game with 20 minutes on the clock. The lively Eeles wriggled down the left wing and entered the Killie box with ease to slip his shot past the advancing Rascle, only to see it cleared on the line by the alert Clancy. Eeles then combined well with Agnew to once again breach Killie’s penalty area, and Stevie’s quick turn and shot beat the goalie but went wide of the far post.  Whalen, whose strength and intelligent hold up play was giving the Killie defence a trying time then whistled one just over the bar from just outside the box.

Dodds was trying valiantly to initiate Killie attacks from deep in his own half but too often he had to retreat like a quarter back about to be sacked and look for other options as Frankie Haggarty, Deeney and Howie lay in wait ready to pounce on any forward pass and dispossess the Killie receiver.

Killie’s attempts at goal were restricted to set pieces which rarely threatened former Killie goalie Gary Matthews thanks to the aerial dominance of the Gow and McGregor partnership; although on one occasion he had to be at full stretch to prevent the ball from reaching the incoming Koudou.

It was from a set piece that the Glens took a deserved lead with ten minutes of the half remaining.  A long ball played down the right for Haggarty was well intercepted at the expense of a corner kick which Frankie then delivered with some finesse to the near post where McGregor rose above two Killie defenders to head it beyond the rooted Rascle , reminiscent of the goal Steven scored in the West of Scotland Cup final.  The keeper then did well to parry a close range effort from Darren Johnstone to keep Killie in the game at the break.

Half-time Glenafton Athletic 1 Kilmarnock 0

Ten minutes into the second half and Agnew, Haggarty, Deeney, Howie, Eeles and Whalen made way for Davy Stewart, Brian Miller, Dale Beattie, Mark Quinn, Gavin Brown and the freshly signed David Gormley. Two minutes later the Glens doubled their lead when Darren Johnstone was crudely brought down in the box and Brian Miller sent Rascle the wrong way from the spot kick.

Killie continued to struggle to create any real chances from open play and the skilful Skora was becoming increasingly frustrated as time and again Beattie denied him any time on the ball. In contrast the Glens were breaking forward at will and Gormley and Chic Connolly combined well down the right flank for Chic to float in a teasing cross for Gavin Brown to outjump his marker and head the ball powerfully beyond the beleaguered Rascle, to give the Glens a 3-0 lead with just over an hour of the game gone. This proved to be the last action for the Frenchman and he was replaced by young Peter Logan but he too would soon be picking a Brown header out of the net when Gavin got on the end of a Gormley corner-kick in the 69^th minute.

Six minutes later Killie hit-back. A free kick from 25 yards out was crashed into the Glens wall and the rebound then returned instantly and deflected over the deceived Matthews. This proved to be Golden Gloves last action and triallist Kenny was took his place between the sticks. Killie then enjoyed their most productive spell but any thoughts of an ‘Eintracht Frankfurt’ comeback and turning a 4-0 deficit into a 5-4 victory were soon dispelled when with 10 minutes remaining Gordon Dalziel tightened things up at the back and replaced the roving Connolly with Andy Dunlop. Needless to say there was no further scoring, even although the veteran did venture forward at a set piece and tried to sneak a header in at the back post.

Full time: Glenafton Athletic 4 Kilmarnock 1 

Glenafton Athletic: Gary Matthews; Chic Connolly, Andy Gow, Steven McGregor, Stevie Agnew; Frankie Haggarty, Kevin Deeney, Willie Howie, Simon Eeles; Stephen Whalen*, Darren Johnstone

Subs: R. Kenny, Davy Stewart, Mark Quinn, Dale Beattie, Brian Miller, David Gormley, Gavin Brown, Andy Dunlop

Kilmarnock : 1. Damien Rascle, 2. Sean McGhee, 3. Kyle Wright, 4. Rhiann Dodds, 5.Tim Clancy, 6. Iain Campbell, 7. Iain Flannigan, 8. Aime Koudo, 9. Scott Anson, 10. Eric Skora, 11. Steven Noble

Subs: Peter Logan, 12. Niall Blair, 14. Paul McInnes 15. Gavin Brown