Pollok 0 Irvine Meadow 1 [18-06-09]

'Strain hails heroes after Robbo strike'

THE magnificent Evening Times Cup is back in Ayrshire hands after Irvine Meadow's 1-0 victory over Pollok.
A scrambled 29th-minute goal from stopper Chris Robertson was enough to see off the Glasgow cracks who came up short in their bid to rack up a third consecutive success in this competition.
And, if anyone thought this last cup final of the 2008/09 season mattered little, then they should have witnessed what it meant to the Meadow supporters in an impressive 1,200 attendance at Newlandsfield.
The blast of referee Des Roache's whistle at time up also became the signal for scenes of celebration on the pitch as fans whooped it up alongside equally ecstatic players as the Evening Times Cup was presented to the winning side by sports editor Graham Shields.
Triumphant gaffer Chris Strain could not hide the delight at his Super Premier champions racking up a fourth trophy success and even a thorough soaking -from bottles of champagne liberally poured over his head - could not wipe the smile from his face.

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"It's nights like that which make all the hard slog of winter training worthwhile," he said.
"We have played better this season, however our battling spirit and will-to-win qualities got us through in the end and I felt we won the game on merit.
"Our defence was outstanding and never at any time looked like conceding a goal.
"Granted, Pollok had a lot of the ball, but it was in areas where they were never going to hurt us.
"And I'm sure the match stats will show that Michael Wardrope had very few shots to save.
"We created little in the way of clear-cut chances ourselves, if truth be told. But, when you're only 1-0 up, it's a natural tendency to sit back and try to hold on to the lead.
"Pollok threw extra men forward near the end and exerted a bit of pressure, but we saw the game out comfortably."

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Both teams produced selection surprises with striker Davie Turn-bull making his first starting appearance in six weeks for the home side, while a work-enforced delay ruled out Meadow defender Barry McLaughlin and led to a recall for Stevie Swift.
Huge queues at the turnstiles led to the kick-off being delayed for 10 minutes, but both sets of fans roared their approval as the game got underway at a high tempo, although it was 12 minutes in before we had the first real scoring chance.
Brian McGinty cl everly made space down the right flank before delivering a perfect cross on to the head of strike partner Richie Barr but, from eight yards, the unmarked hitman headed straight at Lok goalkeeper Kris Robertson.
Pollok's reply was a Derek Wingate 30-yarder that crept a foot over the crossbar before they fell a goal behind on the half-hour mark.
A free-kick was only half cleared before being played back in again to fall at the feet of big stopper Robertson, and he showed quick feet to steer the ball low past his namesake in the Pollok goal for 1-0.
The rest of the first half was all about Pollok attempting to get back on level terms, mainly through the promptings of midfielder Andy McLay - later named man of the match - who was at the heart of every attacking move.
But all his efforts came to no avail as Turnbull and fellow-striker Bryan Dingwall struggled to escape the shackles of Robertson, Swift and Chris McGowan.


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If anything, Pollok were even more on the ascendancy throughout the second period but, time and time again, all their best attacking sorties were rebuffed, leading to Dingwall and Co resorting to long-range attempts.
The introduction of Gary Halliday, Andy Harrison and Thomas Morgan instilled a bit of freshness into the tiring Pollok ranks, but failed to make any great difference in the penalty box other than to give Medda's backline further opportunities to demonstrate it was going to take something special to breach their line.

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