McBookie Championship

DALRY THISTLE 2

KELLO ROVERS 1

By Harvey Gallacher

DEDICATED Dalry Thistle ground staff worked hard all day to ensure the game went ahead after being faced with a heavy pitch on a cold wet day.

And their efforts more than paid off, as Gavin Friels' team enjoyed a vital victory against the struggling visitors.

This game was played on a cold wet day on a very heavy pitch. It was only due to the hard work of the Dalry ground staff that it went ahead at all.

Early on the teams were quite evenly matched and both having their share of chances. The Kello forwards seemed to be getting caught offside quite a lot at the beginning. Whether this was due to an over enthusiastic assistant referee or a well-organised defence is a matter of debate but things settled down as the game progressed.

Kello were the better team in the first half and were unlucky to lose a goal in 37 minutes when Ian Cashmore netted. This score remained the same until the half time whistle. The second half started with Kello attacking from the whistle and scoring the equaliser in just the third minute. As the game went, both sides had their chances with Kello having the best of them. In 68 minutes, however, Kello went 2-1 down again against the run of play with Mark Archdeacon netting for the hosts.

Many teams would have lost heart after having to come from behind again but this Kello team never gave up and should have had the equaliser when Quinn hit a shot from 20 yards, but the ball struck the crossbar. If this had gone in it would have been a contender for goal of the season as it dipped and swerved towards the Dalry goal

All-in-all this was a good game with a draw a fair result.

Kello were a lot better at passing the ball, holding possession of the ball and working as a team. They gave their all and seem to be coming back from a long bad spell that perhaps would have broken another team. This was a good display in which the Kello players regained some of their self-respect and were extremely unlucky not to have gained at least a point. Considering Dalry were 20 points ahead of Kello at the start of the game it was a very creditable display.

Hopefully, Kello will keep getting better and the points will follow. The new manager is getting to know his players strengths and weaknesses and it is beginning to show on the pitch.