Local Heroes: Silky Star leave industrious Oxgangs empty-handed

AC OXGANGS were disappointed to emerge from their Lothian Buses under-15 South East Region Division 2 against mid-table rivals Star 'A' CYP with only a solitary goal and no points to show for their efforts.

In winning the game 2-1, Star retained their proud record of just one league defeat all season - the lowest number of losses of any team. Coupled with their fourth win of the campaign, the Newtongrange team now boast the best win-loss ratio in the division. Coaches Tony Sim and Eric Scally, with their side sitting seventh but with three or four games in hand over the top four teams, will now have their sights on breaking into the top half of the table before pushing for promotion.

Sim said after the game: "We're doing not too badly, but blowing hot and cold. It was a good team performance, from the goalkeeper to the centre forwards. Even the substitutes played a big part."

The match at Colinton Mains Park started brightly, with the home team, Oxgangs, enjoying the better of the opening chances. Among the highlights in a goalless first half were Fraser Hill's header that flashed narrowly wide, and the same player's skewed shot flying just off target after he had assumed a great goalscoring position inside the box.

AC goalkeeper Cameron McPherson, fairly inactive in the freezing conditions early on, was jolted into action early in the second half, but even his valiant dive to the left couldn't prevent Star from opening the scoring. A long ball over the top from the left found Ben Smith on the right-hand edge of the box, and he advanced a couple of yards before bulleting an unstoppable strike just inside the near post and into the net.

The same player almost pulled off a similar trick four minutes later following a well-worked set play. Star's Kevin Klein-Woolthuis drilled a corner to Smith, 20 yards out, and his strike towards the bottom left-hand corner was well saved by McPherson.

At the other end, five minutes later, Oxgangs' James McInally showed great skill to control a long ball on his chest just outside the penalty area and, with the goal in his sights, turned to shoot, only to see a relatively tame effort trundle wide of the right-hand post.

Five minutes later, though, AC were level. Murray Orris floated an inviting freekick from the right high into the danger zone, and James Williamson, among a queue of home players waiting to convert at the far post, headed in from close range.

Oxgangs almost completely turned the game around in a matter of a few minutes. The attacker Gavin Reid beat Star's Elson Masenga in the race onto a long ball forward and cut into the box to shoot at goal, but goalkeeper Gareth Fleming saved well from Reid's effort.

From there, it was all Star, and the visitors pushed for the winner, eventually getting their reward.

Calvin Clark's diving header from Jack Irvine's corner just missed the target, then Michael Kierzkowski found space on the edge of the box before shooting just wide of the left-hand post.

On 65 minutes, another Clark header, this time from a corner on the right, proved the undoing of Oxgangs. Clark timed his run perfectly to the near post, meeting the cross with precision and power to bag all three points for Star.

Conor Wyllie may have made the winning margin more comfortable for the visitors, but blazed his close-range shot over in the dying minutes.

Oxgangs boss Barry Gray said: "We've done pretty well this season. The downside is we've not played so many league games because we've done so well in the cups, so our position is slightly misleading.

"We try to keep the ball down and play it out from the back, trying to avoid lumping it up.

"We beat and drew against Star last season, so we knew it would be close. They played a good game, but I thought a draw would be a fair result."

AC Oxgangs: Cameron McPherson, James Kidd, Liam Darling, Kai McQueen, Steven Millar, Guy Wardrop, Peter Chambers, Murray Orris, Gavin Reid, Matthew Gray, Joe Posnett, James Williamson, Fraser Hill, Callum MacKenzie.

Star 'A' YFC: Gareth Fleming, Ross Scally, Aidan Sim, Ryan Wright, Dylan Smith, Calvin Robert, William Clark, Ben Smith, Michael Kierzkowski, Jack Irvine, Kevin Klein-Woolthuis, Brad Tait, Elson Masenga, Conor Wyllie, Daryl Wallace, Rafal Dozwiak.