Match Report: Easthouses Lily 3-2 Harthill Royal

Easthouses Lily 3-2 Harthill Royal

In truly horrendous conditions with squally showers punctuating play and a gale blowing all afternoon, both Easthouses Lily and Harthill Royal take great credit from a King Cup tie which produced plenty of excitement and hung in the balance right to the end. An attempted clearance after three minutes by Lily’s Jack Murray sliced behind for a Royal corner but an indication of how strong the wind was came as Ewan Buchanan’s corner swung six or seven yards out of play. Three minutes later, Murray and Neil Janczyk combined to send Murray Gilfillan down the right flank but his dangerous low driven cross into the Royal penalty area was cleared. After ten minutes, Jamie Monie and Felix Hall exchanged passes in midfield before feeding the ball to Daniel Strickland but his dangerous back post cross into the Lily penalty area didn’t have anyone on the end of it. A foul on Steven Thomson saw Janczyk feed Louis Swanson and he then played a one two on the edge of the Royal box with his skipper Ali Elliot before firing in a low right foot drive which was watched carefully by Harthill keeper David Thomson as it slipped wide. On the quarter hour, Strickland sent Hall down the left and into the Lily box and his pull back found Alasdair Cross arriving fifteen yards out but he was on the stretch and just couldn’t guide the ball on target for the visitors who had started the better of the two sides. After eighteen minutes, a long clearance from Lily keeper Steven Hay bounced awkwardly in midfield and Elliot was able to feed the ball to Swanson but his right foot drive from twenty yards lacked the pace needed to beat Royal keeper Thomson who saved low to his right. Three minutes later a Swanson free kick found the head of Dylan Waugh at the back post but the angle was too tight and he headed wide of the Harthill goals. The best chance of the match arrived after 22 minutes as Lily made a mess of playing out from the back and Royal’s Lewis Paton hammered in a low 25 yard drive which home keeper Hay brilliantly saved at full stretch and then got up to claw the ball away from the feet of Strickland who looked to have a tap in but the ball fell to Hall fourteen yards out and he managed to lift the ball over the keeper but without enough pace to reach the goals and the ball was cleared, a real let off for the home side. Two minutes later, Royal’s Strickland made his protests about a handball decision too strongly to referee Richie Kay and he was promptly yellow carded. However the visitors were still having the better of things and went ahead after 26 minutes as Cameron Morrison worked the ball across to Paton and he fired in a low drive from almost thirty yards which somehow managed to squirm under keeper Hay and the reaction of the home custodian suggested he felt he should have done better, not that the visitors were caring about that. Lily were stunned but as the half hour mark approached, Janczyk and Logan Imrie got the ball to Elliot who then played the ball into Lewis Sives ten yards out but a poor first touch saw the ball slip away from him and a good opportunity was lost. A minute later, Harthill’s Lee Kelly earned a ticking off from the referee for a slightly late contact on Sives inside the centre circle. With 32 minutes gone, a Swanson corner found Ryan McQueenie getting free from his marker inside the Royal box but his ten yard left foot half volley went a yard over the top. Ten minutes from the break, Hall saw Lily keeper Hay slightly off his line and had a go from fully 35 yards with a dipping left footer which didn’t clear the crossbar by much. Four minutes later, Strickland went even closer for the visitors with another right footed curling drive from distance which missed the base of the post by inches as keeper Hay dived full length but didn’t get a touch and with the gale at their backs, Royal were getting their shots off fairly regularly now. A minute later, Hall again got down the left for Royal and his low cut back into the six yard area saw McQueenie breath a sigh of relief as his sliced clearance went into the side netting. Buchanan drove the resulting corner low into the Lily box and Kelly met the ball left footed on the half volley but his controlled effort went a yard wide. At the break the visitors were deservedly ahead, they’d had more of the ball and more efforts on goal with Felix Hall pulling the strings in midfield but Lily would probably feel that with the gale at their backs in the second period, the flow of the game may well swing back in their favour.

The first action of the second period came after 47 minutes as a push by Royal right back Cross was penalised near halfway and resulted in referee Kay pulling out his yellow card and advising the Royal player the caution was for persistent offending. Three minutes later, Strickland raced purposefully down the left for Harthill but Murray showed good strength for the home side as he saw the ball behind. An Imrie drive from around 23 yards flew over the Royal bar as Lily looked to start testing visiting keeper Thomson from range in the very difficult conditions and the keeper was then quietly reminded by the referee that he needed to get the ball back into play a wee bit quicker. Elliot fired a low right foot drive from the edge of the box across goal and wide as the home side looked to get back on level terms. However with 54 minutes gone, the visitors stunned their hosts by doubling their advantage with a magnificent second goal as a long Greig Moore free kick was chested down on the edge of the Easthouses penalty area with his back to goal by Oliver Jessimer who took another touch to control the ball before turning inside and then rifling a stunning twenty yard right foot drive past home keeper Hay who might have been unsighted but was left rooted to the spot as the ball thundered into the net for a brilliant goal. The visitors were buoyant and three minutes later, Jessimer fed the ball to Strickland and his right foot drive from around 22 yards whistled wide of home keeper Hay’s near post and at this stoppage, Lily made a change up front as they brought on Chris Robertson for Gilfillan. On the hour, a free kick from Steven Thomson twenty yards out was blocked by Royal keeper David Thomson and as Robertson tried to get onto the loose ball, he went down as the keeper dived across but despite the home protests, referee Kay remained unmoved. However the home side weren’t to be denied and sixty seconds later it was game on as a ball into the Royal penalty was pushed out by keeper Thomson and fell for Imrie and despite the keeper making a great block from his first effort, the Lily no19 remained alert and was able to bury the rebound from nine yards to halve the deficit. Two minutes later, the home side levelled the match as Steven Thomson hammered in a drive from 25 yards which was magnificently touched up onto the junction of post and bar by Royal keeper David Thomson but it was Robertson who was first to react to the loose ball and he rounded the prostrate keeper before sliding home the equaliser. After getting themselves back on terms, Lily then almost gifted the visitors the lead again after 65 minutes when McQueenie inexplicably lost possession on the halfway line and Morrison raced through one on one with keeper Hay but the keeper stayed big and was able to beat away the right foot drive from the Royal no7. Two minutes later, Thomson of Lily was warned for a foul on Hall and when the free kick into the box dropped for Kelly, his return cross was headed over the home crossbar by Morrison. Lily keeper Hay then made a brilliant save low to his right from a controlled first time left foot volley from Strickland on the edge of the box and the visitors had definitely steadied the ship after a rocky period of play. After 70 minutes, Robertson spotted visiting keeper Thomson off his line but didn’t get enough loft on the 35 yard lob and it was comfortable for the keeper. Two minutes later, Harthill made their first change as Tawanda Sigauke replaced Buchanan and he was on just in time to see Swanson fire high over the Royal crossbar from the edge of the box. Three minutes later Swanson went a lot closer when a corner reached Elliot who dropped the ball back to Thomson and his pass saw Swanson fire in a twenty yard drive which only just cleared the bar. With 77 minutes gone, the visitors made a double switch as Morrison and Strickland made way for Lewis Mulvanny and Pearse Carroll. A minute later, Swanson found Thomson, who was having an excellent second half, and his low twenty yard drive brought out a superb save from Thomson and as Robertson looked to pounce on the loose ball, he was pulled up for offside. Ten minutes from time, Robertson fed the ball to Swanson who tried to chip the ball over Royal keeper Thomson and as the keeper back pedalled, the ball bizarrely held up in the wind and the keeper had to throw himself forward to smother the ball. With 82 minutes gone, Easthouses lost the services of McQueenie who went down near the touchline and left the field limping heavily and he was replaced by Cammy McBeth. Five minutes from time, Swanson was left holding his head in his hands as he played a one two on the edge of the Royal box and his shot up into the top corner looked a goal all the way until keeper Thomson somehow arched his back and tipped the ball over the top right up in the top corner for the save of the match. However from Thomson’s low corner to the near post, Janczyk touched the ball on and Elliot was there and got the final touch to force the ball home from a couple of yards to put the home side in front with four minutes remaining. A minute from time, Swanson cut in from the right and set the ball up for Imrie whose drive from seventeen yards was beaten away by Royal keeper Thomson who stayed up to make the block. Two minutes into stoppage time, Harthill earned a free kick 24 yards out and Carroll got the ball up over the defensive wall with plenty of pace on it but keeper Hay was equal to the task and brilliantly tipped the ball over the top from almost right under his crossbar. On the day, Lily probably just about deserved to squeeze through this one with a much improved second half which will see them visit Whitehill Welfare in the third round, but an excellent first half from the visitors really had me wondering how they currently sit bottom of the first division as both teams provided some great entertainment in a cracking cup tie on a day when we wondered if the weather would even allow the game to take place.