Irvine Meadow go through on penalties

May 22 2009 by John Woods, Irvine Herald

FULL-STRENGTH Irviine Meadow made heavy weather of beating lowly Annbank in Monday night’s Ayrshire Cup semi-final.

Chris Strain’s men had plenty of possession from the start and were denied a blatant tenth minute by referee Ross Haswell when Gareth Turner was clearly barged off the ball by Darwyn Johnston.

Richie Barr, Chris Strain Junior and Mark Crilly all missed good chances as the first half drew to a close.

Meadow continued to miss chances after the restart but the deadlock was finally broken in 62 minutes when Emilio Jaconelli sneaked in at the front post to head home Chris Strain right wing cross.

Meadow continued to rule the roost but could not make their domination count and paid the price five minutes from time when Chris McGowan and Barry McLaughlin collided as they went for the same ball and Mick McCann nipped in to grab a sensational equaliser.

That took the game to a penalty shoot-out and once again keeper Michael Wardrope was the hero with a great save from former team mate Kevin Robison as Meadow won 5-4.