Football roundup: Civil Service Strollers and Spartans in Lowland League action

Local football clubs Civil Service Strollers and Spartans were in Lowland League action at the weekend.
Civil made the journey to Broadwood Stadium to face Cumbernauld Colts.

The home sides early pressure in the opening minutes paid off when Sean Brown got on the end of a well-placed cross and prodded the ball into the net to give the home side the lead.

Civil drew level on the half-hour mark after Matthew Cunningham got on the end of a Jack Downie corner.

The keeper got a hand on Cunningham’s powerful header but it wasn’t enough to keep the ball out the net.

Civil’s injury woes continued after Joe Boyle had to be taken off after a challenge just before the interval.

David Churchill, who was only declared fit before the game after breaking his toe last month, came on to replace Boyle.

Both sides had chances to take the lead but went in all level at the interval.

Steven Froude thought he had put Civil ahead on the hour mark, the big striker was played in by Churchill and his shot hit the net the referees assistant signalled for offside.

Churchill then had a chance to score, his perfectly placed shot looked like it was going to nestle into the net but Chris Fahey in the Colts goals got a hand to push the ball away.

Jack Downie was next up to have a go and after getting on the end of some excellent play his shot looked like it was net-bound but Fahey again got a hand on it before the danger was cleared.

After the match manager, Alex Cunningham, said “I am really happy with today’s performance.

“I thought the boys all played very well and it was a much-improved performance from last week.

“I am hoping that the injury to Joe Boyle isn’t too bad, he’s away to hospital for x-rays then we will see how he is.

“Today’s game was a great spectacle with both teams playing good football and creating chances.”

Spartans traveled along the M8 to K-Park to face league champions, East Kilbride.

Spartans went into the game sitting second top and only one point behind league leaders, BSC Glasgow.

Ross McNeil’s first-half goal condemned the local side to just their second league defeat of the season.

Spartans manager Dougie Samuel insisted his team outplayed Billy Stark’s men for long periods of the game.

The loss at K-Park sees the Ainslie Park side drop to third in the table, four points adrift of current league leaders BSC Glasgow while East Kilbride leapfrog them into second place. Spartans, though, do have a game in hand over their nearest rivals.

Samuel said “I thought our performance levels were really good. We were punished for two errors in the first half but over the piece we were the better side

“The goal came against the run of play and gave them that confidence and we never quite recovered from in terms of our composure for the rest of the first half. But, after the interval, we played on the front foot and created numerous opportunities to score.”