Saturday 13th March 2010

Ryan McGregor (44)

John Boyle (86)

A first win of 2010 continues to elude Pollok as they were held to a 1-1 draw by title-chasing Auchinleck Talbot at Newlandsfield Park in the Stagecoach Super Premier League.

There was another new face in goal for 'Lok as Zander Cowie was drafted in on loan from South Side neighbours Queen's Park, while Craig Baxter made his debut at the heart of the defence. The early exchanges saw plenty of endeavour from both sides, but with little end product. Pollok's first real effort on goal came in the 21st minute when Calum Hardie cut in from the right and fired a low shot just wide, and moments later John Boyle was also wide of the target for the visiting side. A quickly taken John Sweeney throw-in almost gave Bryan Dingwall a chance to shoot, but Craig Pettigrew made a timely intervention to avert the danger. The same player had a brief moment of panic in the 34th minute when he was shown a red card by referee Greg Aitken after a foul on Hardie, but only because of an error on the part of the man in the middle. He quickly altered the punishment to a yellow card instead. Pollok thought they had opened the scoring in the 36th minute when Sweeney netted from a Ryan McGregor pass, only for the assistant referee to flag against Paul Hyslop for interfering with play in an offside position. Steven White then saw a half-volley fly narrowly over the crossbar before Cowie had to react well to tip over a Sean McIlroy free-kick. With one minute left to play in the first half Pollok broke the deadlock. Sean Dillon sent over a deep cross from the left for RYAN McGREGOR at the far post, and his looping header back across goal gave Adam Strain no chance.

Talbot were gifted an opportunity to level three minutes into the second half when Baxter and Gerry Joyce collided, leaving Boyle one-on-one with Cowie, but the 'keeper made a fine low block. Tommy Nolan tested Strain with a 30-yard effort from near the touchline, while Bryan Young forced another save from Cowie with a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area. Dingwall then had a close range header stopped by Strain before Cowie saved a James Latta attempt. With fifteen minutes left to play Pollok came within millimetres of doubling their lead. McGregor flighted a perfect strike towards the top left-hand corner of the net, only to be denied by a magnificent fingertip save by Strain. With nine minutes left to play Talbot were reduced to ten men when Latta received a second yellow card for bringing down David McGeown only moments after his first booking. They continued to press for an equaliser, and Cowie produced a fabulous stop to push a close-range Bryan Slavin header over the crossbar. He was beaten with just four minutes remaining however when he palmed away a Stevie Mallan shot, only for JOHN BOYLE to slide home the loose ball. In the 89th minute 'Lok also had a man sent off when McGeown saw red for his reaction to a Gavin Collins challenge. From the resultant free-kick Strain touched Nolan’s strike over. Deep into injury time Colin Spence sent an effort high over the target, and so the points were shared.

Next up for Pollok is another testing fixture as they travel to Barrhead to take on traditional rivals Arthurlie, again on League business.