Ardagh Glass Sectional League Cup

  Dunipace 3 - 3 Kilsyth Rangers  

With progression to the next round not possible for Dunipace this local Derby against Kilsyth was more about preparing for the start of the league season than anything else. With Jekyll and Hyde performances in the previous two fixtures, a superb display against Rob Roy followed by a pretty poor one against Cumbernauld, the Dunipace followers would be hoping for a positive display to take into the league kickoff and, eventually, they will have seen enough in this game to be positive, despite taking 60 minutes and 3 goals to start playing.

With Ryan McCafferty unavailable and Stephen Oates serving the first of his two match suspension, Sean McCafferty came in on the right side and another promising Under 19 talent, Mikey Kane, made his first start partnering Rodger in attack.

Dunipace never really got started in the first half, with the visitors putting the home defence under pressure pretty much from the outset, albeit without really troubling Hutton in the home goal. But with a constant wave of attack it would only be a matter of time before that changed, though Dunipace will be very disappointed at the manner in which the goal was lost.

A routine free kick from the left was floated into the heart of the Dunipace box where the visiting striker had the freedom of Denny to head the ball into the bottom corner, Hutton managing to get ahand on it but not keep it out.

A terrible goal to lose and the home defence were clearly not happy.

Straight from kick off though, Dunipace created one of their few chances of the half, playing some decent football before striking the top of the post with the keeper helpless. Luckilly for the vistors, the rebound dropped kindly to a defender who cleared.

The second half started in much the same manner as the first, Dunipace still sloppy in posession and being forced to defend. A second goal for Kilsyth was the result of all this pressure, a surging run from midfield halted by Gary MacMillans tackle on the edge of the area, but the clearance fell to the Kilsyth Right back, who slid the ball down the line for a first time cross into the center where again the attacker was standing in the middle of the goals with no Dunipace player near him to plant his header below Hutton's gloves.

And it was quickly 3 when moments later a midfield run into the box latched onto the end of a flick on. The shot was pulled horribly across the goal, but fortunately for the vistors the striker was on hand to prod home for 3 - 0.

60 minutes played, 3 - 0 down and suddenly Dunipace decided they wanted to lift the pace of the game and start playing.

McIllduff switched with Kane and almost immediately the big striker had an impact, latching onto a through ball from Rodger and holding off the defender before turning expertly back onto his left foot and drilling the ball low beyond the keeper from 20 yards for 3 - 1.

And only moments later Dunipace reduced the deficit further, when Gary "Bobo" Sibbald intercepted a forward pass and played the ball through the defence into the run of McIllduff again. Poor defending from the visitors, but McIllduff took full advantage to draw the keeper out and slide the ball under his body for 3-2 - another fine finish.

And Dunipace continued to keep the pace of the game high, with Rodger next to have a good chance when played through by McPhail and the striker was unfortunate to see his shot sail inches over the bar with the keeper beaten.

With time running out as we entered the 90th minute it looked like Dunipace had left it too late, but there was to be one more chance. Rodger took another great ball from McPhail on his chest before side stepping the defender and firing his shot toward goal from 12 yards. The keeper did well to parry, but youngster Gordon Stewart (another of our Under 19's) was on hand to take a good touch and fire the ball beyond 3 visiting defenders and the keeper for his first Goal for Dunipace.

3 - 3 the game finished, but that doesn't begin to tell the story. If Dunipace are to have a successful season this term, the performance and pace of the last 30 minutes of the game must be for the full 90 minutes and they must stop conceeding goals as soft as those they have done throughout the course of this League Cup campaign.

Over the course of the 3 games, there have definitely been more positives than negatives, not least the inclusion of our Under 19 players, but the overall feeling will be "must do better" for the start of the league campaign in two weeks time.