Irvine Meadow in double trophy triumph

Jun 12 2009 by John Woods, Irvine Herald

IT'S not often a team collects two pieces of silverware at the one match but that's what Meadow did on Saturday when they were presented with the Stagecoach Premier League Trophy before the kick off and then collected the Ayrshire Cup after a hard-fought 2-1 win over Auchinleck.

As expected in a game between the league champions and the Scottish Cup winners both teams spent the opening minutes feeling each other out, but it was Meadow who gradually began to push forward with Chris Strain bursting forward from midfield and picking out Richie Barr whose shot was blocked by Craig Pettigrew and a Chris McGowan free kick which eventually found its way through to Emilio Jaconelli whose effort was deflected for a corner.

However the opener finally arrived in the 16th minute and it was an absolute peach of a goal, Strain brilliantly turning Liam McVey on the halfway line before sending Gareth Turner haring up the right touchline and, when the midfielder spotted Richie Barr on the far side of the box, he picked him out with a pinpoint cross and Barr took deliberate aim before sending a looping header beyond keeper Adam Strain.

Barr teed up Jaconelli in Meadow's next attack but again Pettigrew came to Talbot's rescue then the action finally swung to the other end where a corner was only cleared as far as Colin Spence on the edge of the box but his shot was high and wide.

Talbot's Brian Young should have done better than shoot straight at Michael Wardrope and then drag the rebound wide with the keeper grounded, then Barr brilliantly held off Spence and picked out Turner who teed up Strain but his shot was saved by his namesake in the Talbot goal.

However it was Auchinleck who levelled in 34 minutes when they were awarded a disputed free kick on the right touchline, Young slung the ball over and, with the Meadow defence standing like statues, Gavin Collins rose unchallenged to plant his header past the helpless Wardrope.

Meadow surged upfield straight from the kick off and Jaconelli slipped in Davie Hamilton but the big midfielder, under intense pressure from McVey, lobbed the ball well over, then Hamilton missed an even better chance in 39 minutes when he was allowed a free header at a Mark Crilly free kick but again sent his effort over the top.

But the large Meadow support were singing again six minutes after the restart when Pettigrew gave away a needless corner on the right, and when Zander Ryan's cross came over, Chris Robertson headed the ball back into a crowded six-yard box where Jaconelli showed all his predatory instincts with a clever close-range flick to send it through Strain's legs and into the net.

Strain then had to race from goal to boot clear from Barr, a great Jaconelli reverse pass sent Turner bursting into the box and, when he drilled in a low cross, it was Jaconelli who fired it goalward only to see it deflected for a corner then, when Ryan's flag kick came over Swift just got underneath the ball and his header sailed over.

The newly-crowned champs had a real scare in 64 minutes when a left wing free kick was powered goalwards by Tom Latta only for Wardrope to make a good block and when the loose ball fell to Davie Gillies his shot was deflected for a corner.

Gillies and Jaconelli both had the ball in the net only to see their efforts disallowed, then a series of controversial decisions by a linesman – whose understanding of the offside rule was at odds with the rest of the world – left both Meadow front men beating the ground in frustration and denied the Irvine outfit at least one certain goal.

Meadow almost grabbed the killer third goal when McGowan headed a corner back across goal to Robertson whose shot was scrambled clear but they had a real scare in 74 minutes when Robertson gave away a foul on the right and when the ball came over McGowan headed it onto the face of his own bar before it was hacked to safety.

Talbot did most of the pressing from then on but they never really looked like getting back on level terms and it was Barr who came closest in the final minute when he beat the offside trap but dragged his shot wide of the far post.