Report

East Kilbride YMCA      2

Doune Castle               1 

Having all but wrapped up the league title prior to this match, it was perhaps understandable Doune’s season should end with an uncharacteristic, lacklustre performance. Needing to avoid defeat by an 18-goal margin to secure the title, the Castle failed to reach the heights of their outstanding performances of the last three, high-pressure weeks.

 The game started well enough with Doune dominating the early exchanges. Colin Burke combined well with Alan Inglis before shrugging aside the challenges of three defenders. He stroked his shot wide of the keeper’s far post.

 Inglis then flicked on a long clearance from Colin Dormer to set Burke free on goal. His strike partner skewed his shot and the chance was wasted.

 East Kilbride replied with an 11^th minute header that slipped past after the home side had broken down the Doune left flank. Graham McClymont sent Colin Burke through on goal but he was denied by a comedic challenge by the keeper that saw him stumble into a clearance.

 After 25 minutes, Lukasz Duszynski ran through onto a ball squared into his path by Alan Inglis. The winger miscued his effort and the ball flashed well wide. A minute later, Alan Inglis latched onto a long ball from David Innes but the keeper came out to block as Inglis prepared to shoot.

 Colin Dormer collected a cross from a wide left position despite the challenge of two forwards. Seconds later Alan More curled a low free kick from the right towards the near post. Again, the keeper did well, fishing the ball out from under Colin Burke’s feet.

 The Castle conceded a soft goal after 27 minutes. They needlessly conceded a free kick 25 yards out. When the cross came over, a forward remarkably found himself free four yards out. He nodded under Colin Dormer to give the YM a 1-0 lead.

 Almost immediately, Alan Inglis played a deep diagonal ball from left to right to release Lukasz Duszynski through on goal. He darted forward but shot straight at the keeper.

 Colin Burke played in David Innes with a lovely square ball. Innes found Alan Inglis with a deep cross. Inglis controlled the ball but hammered his low drive wide of the post. Then a sweeping Doune move ended with Lukasz Duszynski playing the ball across the face of the goal only a yard out from the goal line. Unfortunately, there were no takers. The half ended with the keeper collecting Alan More’s corner from the right.

 East Kilbride led 1-0at the interval.

 After 49 minutes, Bryan Gallagher found Alan More at the far post. More cut back inside before lofting the ball back towards Alan Inglis. A defender intercepted with Inglis poised to shoot.

 Doune equalised after 55 minutes. The Castle were awarded a free kick 20 yards out. Alan Inglis stepped forward and curled the ball high into the top right hand corner, beyond the keeper’s despairing leap, to make it 1-1.

 Five minutes later, Lukasz Duszynski was unlucky with a first-time clipped half volley that hit a defender’s heel and deflected to safety.

 After 69 minutes, Stuart White came close with a low, raking drive from 25 yards that flashed wide of the keeper’s right hand post. 

A minute later, Doune gifted East Kilbride a second goal. Several defenders left a harmless-looking ball down the centre, looking as if they expected Colin Dormer to collect. Dormer also looked slow to react and a forward gleefully accepted the opportunity to turn the ball into the unguarded net.

 Alan More came close with a fine 20-yard strike that rifled past the post as Doune tried to make amends for their profligacy in front of goal.

 Paddy Gallagher was next to pass up a golden chance when he failed to direct his downward header from Paddy Napoli’s on goal. Colin Dormer did well to hold a shot from the edge of the area with only four minutes remaining.

 The Castle last chance came with two minutes left. Lukasz Duszynski slipped a pass to Alan More who whistled a great ball across the face of the goal but again there were not takers, leaving East Kilbride to record the most unlikely of wins.

 However, the consolation for the result came when Iain Cowden, the Caledonian League Match Secretary, presented skipper Stuart Foster with the League Championship Trophy and congratulated the club on a fantastic season.

 Doune Castle: Dormer, Innes, Gallagher, MacMillan, Duncanson, McClymont (White 61), Tervit, More, Burke (Napoli 45), Inglis (Stewart 68), Duszynski Substitutes: Foster, Cameron

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