23/02/2019  |  League

Cumbernauld Colts   2  v  2  Caledonian Braves

COLTS learned a costly lesson in not taking their chances after being held to a frustrating draw against the students of Edusport Academy at Broadwood.
Sean Brown opened the scoring for Colts after the hosts passed up several early chances, but the visitors hit back with a double from Ross McNeil before Fraser Team’s penalty ensured a share of the points.

The result meant Colts missed the opportunity to move back into the top six of the Lowland League with East Stirling having no fixture at the weekend.
Colts started strongly and had two great opportunities to open the scoring in the opening ten minutes.

Firstly, Brown wriggled free on the left side of the box and tried to pick out Team who was unmarked in the middle of the six-yard box, but Brown’s cut back wasn’t decisive and was blocked by Edusport defender Jack Breslin.
Then Brown capitalised on some slack Edusport defending and found himself with only the keeper Solal Pelmard to beat, however the normally reliable striker watched his effort being blocked with the goal at his mercy.

Colts continued to probe and worked a great position again in 18 minutes when Craig Murray broke free on the right and slid a pass into the path of Team for what would have been an easy tap in, but Murray's pass was too close to Pelmard and the keeper cleared the danger.
However, Colts eventually made the breakthrough in 20 minutes with a goal of top quality. Stephen O'Neill swivelled in the middle of the park and played a lovely reverse pass into the path of Brown who didn't even break stride before driving the ball low past Pelmard at his near post.

Edusport had shown nothing in the early part of the game but it didn't take long for the visitors to hit back against the run of play.
In 27 minutes, Scott McLaughlin found space on the left and drilled a low cross along the six yard line which Colts keeper Jordan Pettigrew couldn't hold and the alert McNeil clipped the ball into the empty net from close range.

Colts had to dig deep as the visitors began to pile on the pressure and Edusport almost edged in front with great efforts from both Marc Kelly and O'Neill, but Pettigrew made amends for his earlier mistake by producing some great saves to keep the scores level at the interval.

The hosts had a wonderful chance to move back in front just after the hour mark when O'Neill raced clear of the Edusport defence after being released by Arnault Bembo, but O’Neill’s effort wasn’t clinical and was easily blocked by Pelmard when the winger should have scored.
But it was the visitors who edged in front in 68 minutes when hesitancy in the Colts defence between Greg Pascazio and Pettigrew allowed McNeil to capitalise and that he did as the ever alert striker flicked the ball past Pettigrew into the empty net.

Colts were beginning to rue their earlier missed opportunities and were now left with a mountain to climb if they had any ambition of claiming all three points.
But hope was restored in 78 minutes when Brown dashed into the far side of the penalty box and was fouled by Breslin resulting in the referee pointing to the spot, and Team stepped up making no mistake with the spot kick leaving Pelmard rooted to the spot.

Colts then set about looking for a winner, but they fell short of creating any clear chances and the nearest they came to clinch the win was when sub Paul Nash tried his luck with a great effort from distance, but his curling effort clipped the outside of Pelmard's left hand post.
The Cumbernauld men will now enjoy a break from competitive action next weekend before welcoming Edinburgh University to Broadwood the following Saturday.

Edusport Academy; Pelmard, Lucas, Abadie, Breslin, El Zubaidi, McMillan, Catherine, McLaughlin, McNeil, Flynn, Kelly. Subs; Kerr, Alexandre, Coogans, Trialist, Cowie.