Ardrossan Winton Rovers Archive
Thistle Sting In Local Derby
New Signing Grabs the Winner
| Ardeer Thistle | 2 |
| Ardrossan Winton Rovers | 1 |
Stagecoach Ayrshire League
NEW signing Paddy Flannery scored a glorious debut goal as Thistle took the three points in this latest local derby against a ring rusty Rovers side who were playing their first game in five weeks.
Flannery made his first start for the hosts, while the Rovers had no less than four ex-Ardeer players in their squad.
A Paul Monan cross in four minutes saw the ball come to Graeme Patterson but his shot went past the post as Winton took the game to their hosts.
Ardeer replied on 14 minutes when David Darroch got on the end of a flick but volleyed the ball over.
Billy Gilmour and Kevan Reid combined on 15 minutes to force the play onto Winton but the finish wasn't there.
Stephen McAvoy got on the end of a Monan cross after this let off but the power in the header never troubled Ardeer goalie Andy Kennedy.
Gilmour saw a cross cum shot come off the top of the bar in 27 minutes as the game began to warm up.
Ardeer took the lead on the half hour when Craig Kippen's cross was headed home by Ian McEwan from six yards.
Ardeer almost went further ahead when a near post ball was flicked on but Stevie O'Neill saved well.
Winton levelled on 36 minutes when a neat pass from John Gallagher saw Stephen McAvoy get free and he sent a low drive past Kennedy from the edge of the box.
Three minutes later a Patterson free kick saw Kennedy pull off a great save to parry the ball out for a corner.
On 55 minutes the fans saw the creative ability of Flannery when he managed to create acres of space for a shot but it went wide.
On the hour mark McEwan set up Darroch but the shot was straight at O'Neill.
Monan saw agood effort go wide after this and from the resultant cross Paul Brown saw a volley cleared off the line.
Winton had another chance on 65 minutes when new signing from Kilbirnie, Gary Davidson sent a good free kick onto the head of John Gallagher but the ball came off the far post and Ardeer cleared.
Billy Gilmour went on a good run on 79 minutes when he cut in from the left and sent in a good shot that O'Neill was equal to.
From the reusltant corner the ball was headed straight to Reid, whose shot came off the bar.
Ardeer got the decisive goal on 81 minutes when a ball over the top fell to Flannery and he showed the class to fire a good early shot into the far corner of the net.
Winton tried to get a goal back with five minutes left when Easton slid a pass to Davidson and his cut back fell to Brown but he sidefooted the ball high and wide.
Darroch had a chance to seal the game when he got one on one with O'Neill but he only managed to hit the ball straight at the Winton keeper.
Davidson had a claim for a penalty in the last minute turned down, resulting in a booking for the Winton player and the visitors' misery was completed in stoppage time when Nolan saw red for his second reckless tackle of the game.
Ardeer: Kennedy, Feeney, Houston, Jordan, Gilmour,
Reid,
Kippen, McEwan, Flannery, Darroch, McMenemy.
Subs: Kane, Kelly, Hendry, Alford, Fuzari.
WINTON: O'Neill, Paton, Milliken, Brown, Easton,
Muir,
Patterson, Gallagher, McAvoy, Davidson, Monan.
Subs: Shanks, Adam, Nolan, Wilson.
This match report has been reproduced by kind permission the editor, Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald.