Cup Thriller At Miller Street
- Winning In The Rain
- Dec 7
- 6 min read
Saturday 6th December 2025
Scottish Amateur Football Association
Challenge Cup Competition
Fourth Round
Kilbarchan Thistle 2 - 2 Oban Saints
King George V Playing Fields
Miller Street
Johnstone
PA5 8HP
Kick-off 1.30pm
Referee Mr David Dixon
Oban Saints let a two-goal lead slip through theirs fingers in the mud at Miller Street, Johnstone last Saturday afternoon to leave their place in the fifth round of the Scottish Amateur Cup hanging in the balance. First half strikes from Connor Moore and Daniel Maccuish had Saints firmly in control but a spirited second-half fight back from hosts Kilbarchan Thistle levelled the scoring to force a replay.
Despite being reduced to ten men for the majority of the second period, the hard-working Kilbarchan side were able to dig in on the tight grass park and thoroughly deserved a second bite of the cherry in Oban this coming Saturday.
Saints' Gaffer Steven MacLeod was in the highly unusual position of being able to name an unchanged starting eleven and added returning injury victims Ryan Barclay and David Beaton to the squad which had defeated Stenhousemuir Foundation seven days earlier.
The D&K Lafferty Contractors and MKM Oban Building Supplies sponsored Saints lined up with Craig Maitland in goal behind a back three of Louie MacFarlane, Captain Scott Maitland and Matty Pollock. The central midfield trio of Aaron McKay, Gavin Forgrieve and Daniel Maccuish were flanked by wingbacks Daniel MacVicar and Donald Campbell while Rhys Millar partnered Connor Moore up front. Ryan Barclay and David Beaton returned from injury to join Innes Fraser, Keiran Griffin, Jakub Ryska and goalkeeper Graham Douglas on the substitutes bench.
Kilbarchan Thistle of the Greater Glasgow Premier Amateur Football League kicked off on the soggy and extremely tight grass park at Miller Street which would make life difficult for both sets of players.
A Matty Pollock clearance launched Saints' first attack inside the first minute with Kilbarchan keeper Stuart Blair pushing away a Connor Moore shot and Donald Campbell getting to the loose ball first to tee up Gavin Forgrieve for a shot from twenty yards which Blair was, this time, able to hold.
Off-target efforts followed from Aaron McKay and Daniel Maccuish before Stuart Blair was called into action again in the fourteenth minute making a good save low to his right to deny Donald Campbell.
At just slightly bigger than minimum dimensions, the tight pitch allowed Kilbarchan's John Conlin to reach the penalty spot with a nineteenth minute throw-in which Losjay Frame jumped highest to meet with a header which looped into the gloves of Craig Maitland.
Rhys Millar's strong running on the left won Saints a twenty-fourth minute corner kick. Kilbarchan fullback David Icharia beat Donald Campbell to Gavin Forgrieve's delivery however his header didn't clear the eighteen-yard box and was about to be fired back towards goal by Daniel MacCuish when the big midfielder was bundled over. The loud Saints' appeals for a penalty kick, which appeared to be justified, were dismissed by Referee David Dixon.
Saints opened the scoring in the twenty-seventh minute hitting the hosts on the counterattack from a well defended John Conlin long throw-in. The ball was worked forward to Connor Moore on the right who cut inside along the eighteen-yard line and rifled the ball beyond Stuart Blair and into the bottom corner.
Mr Dixon waived away a second Saints' penalty appeal when Donald Campbell was sent sprawling under Maxwell Glossoa's twenty-ninth minute challenge.
Kilbarchan Skipper James McTaggart was leading by example, and Craig Maitland had to watch McTaggart's thirty-second minute free kick carefully before pushing it over his crossbar for a corner kick.
McTaggart's opposite number, Scott Maitland was similarly influential and, when his thirty-fifth minute free kick to the eighteen-yard line was well controlled by Connor Moore, Kilbarchan keeper Stuart Baird denied Moore a second goal with an outstretched right boot.
Saints however didn't have too much longer to wait for a second goal with front pairing Rhys Millar and Connor Moore combing on the right for Moore to send an inviting thirty-seventh minute cutback into the box which Daniel Maccuish was able to reach before David Icharia and Losjay Frame sliding in the divert the ball beyond Stuart Baird and just inside the far post.
Baird made an excellent flying save at this near post to turn a thumping Donald Campbell effort behind for a corner kick as Saints looked to increase their lead still further before the half-time interval. Gavin Forgrieve produced another good delivery from the corner flag which Donald Campbell met with plenty power but without the direction necessary to find the net.
Attacking the changing rooms end in the second half Saints were sent back out by Gaffer Steven MacLeod to get an early goal and put the tie to bed however it was the hosts who seized the initiative. Only three second half minutes had been played when Striker John Docherty made way for substitute Paul McGlashan who made an instant impact on proceedings. In his first involvement of the afternoon, just two minutes after coming on, McGlashan exploited hesitation in the Saints' defence and raced through the inside left channel to fire past Craig Maitland and bring his side storming back into contention.
Saints made an immediate change replacing Donald Campbell with David Beaton and responded with a Louie MacFarlane header from a Gavin Forgrieve cross, but MacFarlane failed to repeat his goalscoring exploits of the previous week and steered his back post header into the gloves of Stuart Baird.
Just seven minutes after joining the action Paul McGlashan turned from hero to villain when an off the ball incident saw him receive his marching orders from Referee David Dixon.
The drama continued in the fifty-eighth minute when the ten men were the grateful recipients of a deflection off Saints' Skipper Scott Maitland which sent a Ross Hamilton effort spinning beyond a wrong-footed Craig Maitland to level the scoring.
Kilbarchan fullback Gary McGuire tested Craig Maitland with a seventieth minute free kick which the Saints' keeper gathered safely low to his right before Saints raced to the other end where Daniel MacVicar's cross from the right was fractionally too heavy for David Beaton.
Saints made a second and final change after seventy-three minutes sending on Ryan Barclay for Matty pollock in a direct replacement on the left of the back three.
Both Skippers continued to play their parts and James McTaggart's excellent seventy-sixth minute free-kick delivery from the right was equalled by Scott Maitland's header under pressure from Ross Hamilton to send the ball behind for a corner kick. From the left, John Conlin picked out Losjay Frame at the back post who planted a firm downward header inches wide of the post.
Relieved at this let-off Saints continued to press for a winner but without either the spark of inspiration or slice of luck necessary to get the better of the determined Kilbarchan defence.
Connor Moore played in David Beaton for a shot which Beaton arrowed straight at Stuart Baird and Daniel MacVicar headed a Gavin Forgrieve free kick wide of the post before Baird saved from Beaton again.
As the action became more frenetic Stuart Baird parried a Daniel Maccuish shot which David Beaton reached first to turn back across goal from a tight angle only for David Inchia to get back on the goal line to block.
Finally, in the second minute of stoppage time, Daniel MacVicar's low cross from the right was deflected onto the underside of the crossbar by John Conlin at the near post who was relieved to see the ball drop back into play where Stuart Baird was able to safely gather before Referee Dixon blew for full time.
The replay is scheduled for Saturday 13th December at Glencruitten with the 3G at Oban High School also in contention given the poor weather forecast. The tie must be settled on the day with penalty kicks to decide the winner if the sides still cannot be separated after ninety minutes.
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