Herron Shines in the Wind as Dunipace Advance in EOS League Cup

The Linton Hotspur 0-2 Dunipace

A second round EOS League Cup tie saw the pairing of two form teams at New Moor Park, as a Linton Hotspur team who took the scalp of Premier side Edinburgh University in the previous round and who are riding high in the third division, hosted another Premier side. Dunipace came calling, and their current fifth place in the top tier shows they are a quality outfit. Both teams were also going to be battling the elements, with a howling gale swirling around West Linton as the game kicked off.

The first chance fell to the visitors after three minutes as Ewan Sutherland won a corner off Linton skipper Blair Craig. Martin France took the corner short to Jordan Herron, and his clipped cross was only half cleared out to Aiden McAvoy, who was only inches wide with a low right foot drive from seventeen yards.

Two minutes later, Hotspur’s Josh Davidson completely mistimed a tackle as he clattered into Pace’s Ryan Fleming. He received a stern warning from referee Blair McAlpine, who rightly judged there was zero malice in the challenge and the player had simply got the challenge all wrong.

Linton’s first effort on goal came after six minutes as Josh Philip picked up a loose ball and had a go with the wind behind him from 25 yards. The effort took a deflection before spinning wide. Sam Meaney whipped his inswinging corner right into the six-yard box, and Pace keeper Lewis McMinn did well to block the ball almost on his goal line before his defence scrambled it clear.

At the other end, a Sutherland effort was deflected wide after twelve minutes, and when McAvoy’s corner dropped for Kyle Ewing, the Pace no. 4 snatched at his eight-yard effort and pulled it wide of the Hotspur goal. On the quarter hour, Nick Brown got forward for the home side and fired in a low left-foot effort from 21 yards, which visiting keeper McMinn grabbed at the second attempt.

With nineteen minutes gone, the visitors suffered a blow as Morgan Galloway went down with an injury from which he was unable to recover, and Kyle Turnbull was brought on to replace the Pace left back. With a quarter of the game gone, the conditions had, if anything, worsened, making it very difficult for both teams as passes understandably failed to find their target in the driving wind and rain.

However, the visitors perhaps should have done better after 23 minutes as Sam Colley escaped down the right flank before driving a superb low cross right through the Hotspur penalty area. Nobody had got up in support, and a decent half-chance had gone.

The 26th minute brought the first yellow card of the contest as Hotspur’s Philip tripped Ewing in midfield. There were very few complaints as referee McAlpine dished out the sanction. Herron sent the free kick into the Linton box, and when the ball was returned to him, he raced past Brown on the edge of the Hotspur penalty area and got away a low right foot drive from sixteen yards. Brown somehow got back with a superb recovery block to send the ball behind.

The visitors continued to threaten, and on 31 minutes, William Greenhorn got to the Hotspur goal line and cut the ball back to Sutherland. His fierce angled right-foot drive from ten yards was well beaten away by home keeper Rory Panther at his near post.

An excellent counterattack from the home side saw Craig find Davidson, who head-flicked the ball on to Liam McIntosh. His return ball to Davidson saw Pace keeper McMinn sprint off his line to grab the ball on the edge of his penalty area.

Four minutes from the break, an inswinging corner from Linton’s McIntosh looked like it might go close but dropped just a couple of feet long onto the roof of the Dunipace net. A minute from half time, Ewing was slightly short with a back pass for Pace, and just for a second, Davidson was interested as he closed down visiting keeper McMinn. But again, the keeper was quickly out to hammer the ball to safety.

The home side were having a decent spell as half time beckoned, and a minute into stoppage time, Herron brought down Philip 22 yards out in a central position, giving Linton one final chance to get their noses in front. Although McIntosh managed to bend his right foot set-piece around the Pace defensive wall, keeper McMinn had his angles sorted out and gathered the low ball confidently a yard off his line.

So, all square at the break, and both teams would be happy to go inside level in truly horrendous conditions. Perhaps the visitors would feel they had quite literally weathered the storm and would look forward to having the gale-force wind at their backs in the second period.

Two minutes into the second half, Pace’s Sutherland got an excellent shot away from the edge of the Hotspur box. Home keeper Panther did well to throw himself low to his left and turn the ball behind for a corner. France swung the corner over, and the ball dropped kindly for visiting captain Warren Paterson, who did well to dig the ball out from under his feet and guide his right-foot shot just inside Panther’s left-hand post from fourteen yards to give the men from Denny a 48th-minute lead.

Hotspur tried to respond immediately, and a nice pass from McIntosh released Brown down the left flank. He played a neat one-two on the edge of the Hotspur box before firing in a right-foot drive which Pace keeper McMinn got right behind.

With 52 minutes on the clock, a nice move down the right flank by Dunipace saw a low dangerous cross well taken at the base of his near post by Linton keeper Panther, with Sutherland right on top of him hoping for a handling error that didn’t come.

Linton had put themselves under a bit of pressure in the opening ten minutes of the second period with a couple of loose defensive passes. Sutherland should have punished them on 54 minutes when he got into the box, but an uncharacteristic poor ball inside let a stretched Hotspur defence off the hook.

The Pace centre forward did better after 57 minutes as he held the ball up before flicking it on to Colley, who made space nicely for an angled 22-yard low right-foot drive that flashed across goal and just wide of the Linton far post. A minute later, Sutherland again linked the play for the visitors as he held the ball up before dropping it off to Greenhorn. His twenty-yard left-foot effort again didn’t miss the far post by much as it drifted wide.

The visitors had clearly decided to utilise the conditions as best they could, and on the hour, Turnbull had a speculative right-foot drive from all of forty yards. Panther in the home goal had to have a couple of attempts at grabbing the slippery ball in the wind before managing to hang on.

However, the visitors put clear daylight between themselves and their hosts after 62 minutes when Herron stepped onto a ball laid back to him on the edge of the Linton penalty area. Without breaking stride, he guided his low right-foot drive perfectly into the bottom corner. Home keeper Panther was perhaps a bit unsighted, but it was certainly a very composed and controlled finish.

The home side responded by going to their bench for the first time, as Philip made way for William White after 65 minutes. Two minutes later, the visitors also made a change as the excellent Sutherland was rested and his place was taken by Kai Wilson.

With twenty minutes remaining, Fraser Martin broke down the right flank for Linton. When his progress was ended by a trip from Turnbull, the Dunipace no. 16 was the second player of the afternoon to go into referee McAlpine’s book.

Sam Meaney delivered the free kick into the Dunipace penalty area. When the ball dropped for White seventeen yards out, his first-time right-foot drive had plenty of power but was always rising over the bar.

A nice move by the visitors down the right after 74 minutes saw a low driven ball onto the Hotspur six-yard line brilliantly cleared by Hotspur player/manager Paul Currie, who was in the right place to divert the ball behind.

Fifteen minutes from time, the home side made a further double switch as Brown and Davidson were replaced by Martin Woods and Connor Brunton.

With 79 minutes gone, a nice pass from Brunton picked out Meaney on the edge of the Dunipace penalty area, but he just couldn’t thread the final pass through to White, who looked like he might be in.

Eight minutes from time, Dunipace brought on Aidan Kemp for McAvoy, and at the same stoppage, Linton made their final switches as Tyron McLean and McIntosh were replaced by Kieran Fox and Arran Peebles.

Dunipace went very close to a third goal six minutes from time as a White free kick from 24 yards was touched onto his own crossbar and behind by home keeper Panther — a very good save in still-appalling conditions. From the corner, the ball was touched back to Herron, and his left-foot 25-yard drive brought out another brilliant save from Panther, who dived full length to his left to turn the ball away.

Within seconds, Turnbull delivered a hanging cross almost under the Linton crossbar, and keeper Panther did well to cling onto the greasy ball at the second attempt under pressure.

A minute from time, Linton showed some spirited defiance as Meaney got a low right-footed drive away from just outside the Dunipace box, forcing visiting keeper McMinn to throw himself to his right and touch the ball behind for a corner.

A minute or so into stoppage time, with the ball out of play close to the dugouts, a needless bit of nonsense played out over an argument about the ball resulted in two cautions for Brunton of Hotspur and Dunipace’s Wilson.

In the end, the result probably went the way the form book would have predicted. Both managers were very keen to stress the positives, as Dunipace manager Danny Smith praised his side for a very professional performance in difficult conditions, while Linton’s Paul Currie was delighted that his side had once again gone toe-to-toe with a quality Premier outfit and hadn’t looked out of place. It’s Denny’s finest who can now look forward to the next round of the League Cup, while Linton now concentrate on trying to achieve promotion in just their third season in EOS football.