McBookie Super League First Division

CAMBUSLANG RANGERS 1

TROON FC 3

by Richard Henderson

A THREE-goal blitz was enough to see off Championship hopefuls Cambuslang at Somervell Park as Troon got their promotion campaign firmly back on track.

Fresh from a last minute winner away to Kello on Wednesday, but with last Saturday's disappointment at home to Kilsyth fresh in their minds, the Seasiders came out the blocks very sharply and were easily the more impressive side in the first half as the stunned hosts played second fiddle. Dean Fulton was causing all kinds of problems down the Troon as he tortured the Camby left-back McKinnon, and it was no surprise when he was was first to tee up a chance with a Danny McKay effort saved by Barnes. But the former Troon keeper had no chance on 17 minutes when a McCreadie cross was met by the head of David Syme who made it five goals in seven games when he bulleted into the far post.

Troon suffered a blow on the half hour when McKay was injured in a heavy 50-50 challenge with Green and had to be replaced by Mark Curragh, but the young sub was on fire as he immediately drove at the home defence only to be denied by a late block from Staunton. Fulton was still causing havoc and his drive made the difference as he cut inside McKinnon only to be felled by Eley as he cut into the box and referee Stephen Brown pointed to the spot. With regular taker McKay off the pitch, a confident Syme picked up the ball only to see his shot saved by Barnes, but an alert Curragh was on hand to fire home high into the net to double the lead going into the interval.

Despite a dominant first half from the visitors, it was immediately a different picture from kick-off as a clearly fired up Camby team looked to make amends straight away and half-time substitute Jordan Love was first to threaten as a Chris Duff ball was headed into the arms of Ally McInnes.

But the comeback looked very much on after only 51 minutes when a corner was cleared well by Troon only for Green to drive into the box and square for John Gemmell to poke home in a crowded box. The home side looked to push their good start further from there and a McKinnon thunderbolt from 25 yards struck the crossbar and the lively Callum McRobbie drew a good save from McInnes at his near post.

Steven McCreadie was forced off after a jarring injury and with Dean Keenan moving to right-back to shackle McRobbie, Troon slowly grew in presence in the second half and impressively worked their way back into the game. They survived a scare on the hour, however as after Collins cleared a Camby corner Green fired an effort towards the back post which struck the shoulder of Thorburn which drew penalty claims from the home side and their bench, but were waved away by Brown. Not a stonewall by anybody's reckoning, but certainly in the "seen them given" category.

The attacking trio of Curragh, Maley and Fulton were combining well down the right flank and Curragh drew an angry challenge from Staunton as the youngsters were clearly rattling the experienced backline and it was again no surprise when the opportunity to kill the game off came in 74 minutes. A Keenan slide rule pass fed Mark Curragh in on the right flank and as he cut into the box his tussle with Staunton gained in intensity and eventually the former Medda man toppled the Troon frontman for Brown to award a second penalty. Club Captain Keenan showed his leadership by grabbing the ball and confidently slamming it high into the net to put the contest to bed, much to the frustration of the home side who saw three bookings for complaining about the award. That came back to hurt them just a few minutes later as full-back Kris Gebbie saw a second yellow card after a frustrated challenge on Evan Maley at the halfway line, killing off the contest.

A fantastic display full of confidence from Troon, and backed by an impressive travelling support who nearly matched the home crowd.

TROON FC: McInnes; McCreadie (Collins 52) Thorburn, Keenan, Strachan, Chatham, Fulton, Syme, McKay (Curragh 31) Maley Miller (Lamont 85)

Subs not used: Clark, Avci.T