The Ants headed to the Donald Dewar Sports Centre in Drumchapel, on a wild wet and windy day, in their first ever West of Scotland Football League match as they faced a Drumchapel United side looking to bounce back from their opening day defeat to Kilsyth Rangers the week previous.

The game was played in swirling wind and driving rain for the most part making it hard to play any real free flowing football although in the 23rd minute the conditions almost played their part in opening the scoring when a cross into the box was attempted to be cleared by Walsh but the wind caught it and blew it back towards the Ants six yard box where Hynes tried to get on the end of the loose ball, his first touch was good but the Trialist in goal for the Ants came through a rake of bodies to punch the ball clear, it hit McIntyre on the back and the keeper pounced to smother the ball. The Ants had their first effort at goal three minutes later when Gallacher teed up Conway but he dragged his shot from distance past the post. Bembo then went on a mazy run that saw him charge down on Scott in the Drumchapel goal but he knocked the ball too far infront of him and Scott thwarted him by diving at his feet and collecting the ball. Docherty then almost opened the scoring for the home side when he rose highest in the box and flicked the ball towards goal only to see the ball rebound off the post with the follow up shot well saved by the Ants keeper from Bowers and Ndlovu hacked the ball to safety. It was a pretty even match so it was a blow when in the 32nd minute Drumchapel took the lead, a long diagonal from Craig found ALEC DOCHERTY who peeled off his marker to head past the keeper and into the back of the net to give the home side a 1-0 lead. The Ants tried to claw their way back into the game and a Bembo through ball sent Ndlovu in on goal but he was always chasing the ball with the wind giving it a little extra zip and as a result was forced wide, Scott came out and narrowed the angle and saved the shot at the expense of a corner that came to nothing

HALF TIME DRUMCHAPEL UNITED 1 (DOCHERTY 32) v 0 ANTS 

The second half will go down as one to forget for the Ants but it could have been so much different if Bembo had managed to get on the end of Carballo’s deflected shot before Scott but the Drum keeper was first to the ball to clear. Two minutes later the Ants found themselves 2-0 down when Bowers cut the ball across the goalmouth to JORDAN SCOTT who tapped the ball into the empty net after 48 minutes. Things went from bad to worse a minute later, as MacKinnon teed up WILLIAM PLOMMERS to fire a wonder strike past the Ants keeper and into the top corner from fully 30 yards out as the shellshocked Ants went 3-0 down. The Ants looked as though the heads had dropped a little and MacKinnon nearly added a fourth from distance but his shot flew just wide of the post. The Ants started to come out of their funk, a Littler throw in caused a bit of panic in the Drum defence and eventually Conway put a teasing ball across the six yard box but there were no takers and the chance was gone. In the 68th minute Drumchapel scored a fourth when a corner was headed clear to the edge of the box and substitute DONALD MCCALLUM fired home a volley with his first touch a minute after coming on to make it 4-0 to the home side. There was almost a fifth when another Craig corner found Docherty alone in the six yard box but under pressure from the Ants keeper he hit the ball over the bar.

FULL TIME – DRUMCHAPEL UNITED 4 (DOCHERTY 32, SCOTT 48, PLOMMERS 49, MCCALLUM 68) v 0 ANTS

Ants manager Danny Taylor was impressed by the home side and is looking for a reaction next week at home to East Kilbride Thistle,  “It was a hard day today for the boys against a really good side who will be there or there abouts in the Conference at the end to win it. We need to dust ourselves down and we go again to see how we react next week in our first home game of the season”

Ants Man of the Match sponsored by Rogue Monkey Digital Media – Shaun Gallacher

The Ants ended the decade in horrific fashion following a second half collapse that saw them ship five goals without reply, after ending the first half level at 1-1. It was actually the McKenna Park men who took the lead in the 19th minute when KAMIL LESZCZYNSKI netted his 9th of the season when he prodded home Stevenson’s corner kick to make it 1-0. in the 31st minute Maybole grabbed an equaliser in controversial circumstances when Mr Peacock appeared to play on as Maybole had a shot at goal which was blocked by MacKenzie and then pulled play back after he adjudged that Jordan Banks was fouled by Littler despite it looking like the striker had lost his balance and took a fresh air swipe as Littler got his foot to the ball to clear, ANDREW STEVENSON stepped up and sent Smith the wrong way to level the scoring. The second half was like two different teams had come out but it wasn’t until a mad 5 minute spell just after the hour when Maybole took the lead, Banks squaring the ball to ANDREW STEVENSON to grab his and Maybole’s second goal of the game after 61 minutes. A minute later it was 1-3 when Littler fouled a Maybole attacker whilst the ball looked to be going out of play for a goal kick with a man covering, ANDREW STEVENSON again stepped up and beat Smith from the spot to complete his hat-trick. Within two minutes it went from bad to worse for the Ants as McGrory was shown a straight red card for a late tackle. We didn’t have long to wait for goal number four when MARK DOOLAN fired home from a cross that just evaded Williams to make it 1-4 after 74 minutes and four minutes later it was 1-5 when JAI HOLLAND beat Smith from an angle. JORDAN BANKS got the goal his second half play probably deserved in the 80th minute when he latched on to a long ball, having the freedom of the Ants box as he danced across the six yard box with no Ants player putting in any kind of meaningful tackle then slotting home to put the cherry on the cake for Maybole and giving the Ants a miserable end to the decade and made it 1-6 to the visitors

It was a game of two halves at McKenna Park, both in terms of the football and the weather, the rainy and windy first half goal-less with the Ants having the best of the few chances created and in the calmer drier second half, Forth grabbing two goals to the Ants one go back east with all 3 points in the bag. The first goal coming in the 60th minute when Ferguson found JONATHAN BRANKS  with a fine pass with the outside of his boot, the striker, who was possibly offside, turned McGarrigle and then fired past Kelly to give the visitors the lead. In the 68th minute a corner was partially cleared by Littler, but only to JORDAN LYNCH who took a couple of touches to get the ball under control then fired past Kelly to double the visitors lead. The Ants pulled one back in the 85th minute when KAMIL LESZCZYNSKI grabbed his 8th of the season when he dusted himself after being fouled in the box to beat Law from the penalty spot but it was too little too late as Forth held on to all 3 points.

Ten man Ants showed a lot of character and determination to come out on top on a dreary day at Rosebank Park. The Ants took the lead in the 18th minute when a McGrory free kick found the head of SHAUN GALLACHER who gave the keeper no chance as he powered the ball into the bottom left hand corner to put the Ants 0-1 ahead, however the small bunch of travelling Ants fans and committee had their head in the hands a minute later, A mistake saw Austin have to sprint from his line to get to the ball from just outside of his box with a sliding tackle but the ball landed to the feet of LOGAN ANGUS 40 yards from goal and he fired the ball into the empty net with Austin unable to get back in his goal on time to level the score at 1-1. Worse was to come from an Ants perspective when 10 minutes later Lugar took the lead, this time LEWIS KERR smashed the ball from fully 35 yards past Austin to put Lugar 2-1 ahead. Five minutes before the break the Ants were level again when SHAUN GALLACHER got on the end of another McGrory free kick to lash the ball past Graham for his and the Ants second to level the match at 2-2.

Half Time – Lugar 2 v 2 Ants

The second half was barely a minute old when Marshall sent KAMIL LESZCZYNSKI through on goal with a defender in close proximity, the Polish hitman shrugged off the defender before rounding Graham and rolling the ball into the empty net to put the Ants back into the lead. Once again however the Ants couldn’t hold onto their lead for more than 2 minutes when a deep free kick rebounded off an Ants defender in the 6 yard box right into the path of CHRISTOPHER HUNTER who could barely believe his luck as he fired past Austin to make it 3-3. The Ants were then reduced to 10 men when McIlvaney was somehow shown a red card for a tackle that the ref had deemed to be serious foul play, much to McIlvaney and most people in the grounds surprise and those of an Ants persuasion would have been forgiven for thinking it wasn’t going to be their day however in the 77th minute super sub ANDREW TURNER twisted and turned in the box before sending the keeper the wrong way to give the Ants a 3-4 lead which this time they managed to hold onto despite being a man short

Full Time – Lugar 3 v 4 Ants

With a few bodies back from injury after the free week, it was again a much changed Ants side who faced up against Saltcoats at McKenna Park, with Patrick, Sweeney, McGrory, McLaughlin, Sinclair and Gray all coming into the starting line up with Curran, McGarrigle, Crawford, McIlvaney and Edwards all dropping out, with Edwards having left the club earlier in the week after the Vale of Leven game.

It was a game that Saint’s will feel they should have taken more from on the balance of the chances, but it was two own goals that saw the match drawn, The video below shows the best bits of the match