Irvine Meadow make light of dreadful pitch

Nov 13 2009 by John Woods, Irvine Herald

THE artificial surface at Bellshill was anything but conducive to good football but Irvine Meadow adapted their style to suit the conditions and ran out much more comfortable winners than the final score suggests.

Chris Strain got his dad’s side off to a dream start when he ran onto a cross and slotted the ball home.

Emilio Jaconelli saw a header crash back off the crossbar and a Gareth Turner effort was saved by the home keeper as Meadow piled on the pressure while Bellshill’s only reply was a long-range Bonar McKenzie effort which flew well wide.

However, not for the first time in recent seasons, referee Ross Haswell had the Meadow management and fans in a fury when he turned down what looked like a good penalty claim when Steven Swift was sent crashing in the box and five minutes later, Haswell again said no when Richie Barr burst into the area and was blatantly pulled back in the act of shooting.

It was all Meadow again after the break as Bellshill were pushed back into defence and Barr almost doubled their tally with a header from a pinpoint Davie Hamilton cross.

But there was real controversy again in 70 minutes when Swift was pushed to the ground as he went to meet a set piece in the home box.

Once again the ref waved away the visitors’ appeals but the linesman kept his flag raised and, after a lengthy discussion with his assistant, Mr Haswell changed his mind, gave the spot kick, sent off Kevin Gallagher and Chris Robertson belted the ball home.

Bellshill reduced the deficit when Mark Crilly gave away a free kick and Kevin Feeney smacked a glorious free kick high past keeper Michael Wardrope from just outside the box but the visitors were unlucky not to stretch their lead when both Jaconelli and Barr struck the bar and Strain had an effort kicked off the line.