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The F.P’s march into the 4th round

Wishaw High School F.P’s progressed into the 4^th round of The West of Scotland Amateur Cup last weekend in a match where they had to battle the elements as much as their Paisley opponents. In a match which took place on the 3G surface at The Jock Stein complex in Hamilton due to all the local parks in Wishaw either grass or astroturf being called off or already booked, F.P’s manager Gus Boyle will just be delighted to be in the hat for the 4^th round draw after seeing his side have to battle gale force winds and driving rain in a match which in truth could have turned into a lottery had their Paisley opponents Apex AFC not had a 15 minute spell mid way through the 2^nd period which saw them with 3 men sent off.

The F.P’s got off to a great start when Brett Ansell shot home from 6 yards in the 12^th minute after great build up play involving David McCluskey and Allan Littlejohn. This goal should have settled the F.P’s down and allowed them to play some of the football they had showed on the same surface the week before in the 2-1 victory over Blantyre Rangers but in truth neither side made any chances of note in the remainder of the opening half with the wind continuing to play havoc as pass after pass went astray or out the park.

Much of the same ensued in the 2^nd period until a crazy spell midway through the 2^nd period saw Apex reduced to 8 men with several bad challenges seeing 2 of them red carded with the other for one of the players having one word too many for the liking of the Ayrshire referee. This allowed the F.P’s to dominate possession for the remainder of the half but despite good chances for Stevie Murdoch and Ally Wilson, The F.P’s only had an Allan Littlejohn header which found the back of the net after a good 25 yard free kick from Gary Miller had come back of the Apex crossbar and the F.P’s playmaker nodded the ball over the goal line.

F.P’s coach John Inglis was quoted after the match “The players have got to take a lot of credit today and they battled the elements and for the most part tried their best to get the ball down and play in the correct manner. All the coaching staff have played the game and in truth no player likes to play in conditions like that. I was also pleased that we kept our discipline in the period of the game which seen 3 of The Apex lads sent off as it would have easy enough for our players to have got involved as well but all credit to the official who got every decision spot on “

Line up: O’Hara (Mackie), McLaughlan, Burnside, Montgomery, Jamieson, Miller, Ansell, Littlejohn, McKenzie, McCluskey (Wilson), Murdoch.