Saints Edge Ten-Goal Thriller
- Winning In The Rain
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Saturday 11th April 2026
Scottish Premier Amateur Football Association
McAvoy & McIntyre Trophy
Group One
Oban Saints 6 - 4 AFC Chryston
Oban Community Sports Field 3G
Soroba Road
Oban
Argyll
PA34 4JB
Kick-off 2.00pm
Referee Mr Jimmy Litster
Oban Saints welcomed AFC Chryston to Oban High School last Saturday afternoon 11th April for a third encounter of the season. Saints had narrowly edged the previous home and away league fixtures and were rightly anticipating another tight match as both sides looked to secure progress from the group stage of the Scottish Premier Amateur Football Association McAvoy and McIntyre Trophy.
The large home crowd were royally entertained to a ten-goal thriller where the visitors held the upper hand until the closing stages when Preston Macintyre's seventy-ninth minute equaliser signalled a spell of three Saints' goals without further reply giving the home side a hard-earned victory by six goals to four.
Saints' Manager Steven MacLeod was without the services of holiday makers Ryan Barclay and Connor Moore but was able to call on the services of Myles McAuley and Louie MacFarlane. There was also some positive news on the injury front as Matty Kelly looks set for an imminent return to training.
Saints lined up with Craig Maitland in goal behind a back three of Myles McAuley, Captain Scott Maitland and Matty Pollock. The central midfield three of Aaron McKay, Aaron Moore and Gavin Forgrieve were flanked by wingbacks David Beaton and Preston Macintyre with Rhys Millar and Donald Campbell forming the strike partnership up front. Assistant Manager Graham Douglas added experience to an otherwise youthful substitutes bench made up by Connor Beattie, Innes Fraser, Keiran Griffin, Louie MacFarlane and Kuba Ryska.
Saints had the benefit of the strong wind blowing from the school end in the first half, but it was the visitors who enjoyed the better of the early exchanges as the home side struggled to get off the starting blocks.
AFC Chryston opened the scoring in the ninth minute when Joseph Fraser's diagonal ball sent Andrew Beveridge in behind Myles McAuley on the left. Beveridge cut inside and picked out up in support Skipper Ronan McLaughlin who fired the ball past Craig Maitland.
Saints responded positively with Myles McAuley winning a header on the half-way line which had Preston Macintyre racing through the middle with Brendan Johnson in pursuit. The big central defender did just enough to force Macintyre to into a snatched effort wide of keeper Aedan Houston's left-hand post.
Andrew Beveridge caused problems for the Saints back three again robbing Skipper Scott Maitland for a nineteenth minute shot which Craig Maitland did well to push over his crossbar for a corner kick. The Saints' number one made solid contact with Brendan Johnson's delivery from the corner flag but, when the ball landed at the feet of Dylan Martin was relieved to see the ball fly high and wide of target.
From the goal kick Saints moved the ball quickly forward on the left where Preston Macintyre and Donald Campbell combined to set up David Beaton for a composed finish into the bottom corner for a twentieth-minute equaliser.
Two minutes later Preston Macintyre rattled the underside of the Chryston crossbar with a thumping effort from twenty-eight yards with Aedan Houston recovering quickly to smother the bouncing ball at David Beaton's feet.
Matty Pollock did well to block a Joseph Fraser cross behind for a thirty-second minute corner kick on the right. Craig Maitland again made decent contact with Brendan Johnson's in-swinging delivery but Chryston kept the ball alive. Myles McAuley thought he had done enough with a solid header however James O'Connor had other ideas with a delightful left foot effort which curled into the top corner to restore the visitor's lead.
O'Connor threatened again in the thirty-sixth minute when he got the better of Donald Campbell on the Saints' left and raced into the box where Craig Maitland made a brave block at his near post. Saints made a better job of defending the resulting corner kick and broke swiftly to the other end where David Beaton's run and cross from the left picked-out Preston Macintyre at the back post where his snatched finish over the crossbar saw a glorious chance for a second equaliser go begging.
An eventful start to the second half saw Aedan Houston come a long way out of his box to meet a Preston Macintyre long ball. The Chryston keeper's attempted clearance cannoned off David Beaton and glanced off the foot of Houston's right-hand post before Beaton or defender Brendan Johnson could reach it.
The visitors were gifted an opportunity to stretch their lead when Referee Jimmy Litster, who handled proceedings well, correctly punished a needless Preston Macintyre push in the Saints' eighteen-yard box with penalty kick. Joseph Fraser emphatically dispatched the ball into the top corner well beyond the reach of Craig Maitland.
After ten second half minutes Saints' Gaffer Steven MacLeod made his first change of the afternoon replacing Donald Campbell with Connor Beattie.
Just three minutes after joining the action Beattie was played in on the left by Scott Maitland and elected to shoot from tight angle when a square pass to Rhys Millar may have borne more fruit. Aedan Houston followed up his near post save from Beattie with a brave block to deny Aaron McKay at the opposite post at the expense of a corner kick. David Beaton met Gavin Forgrieve's delivery at the near post with a glancing header which flew over the crossbar.
Saints' increase in tempo was rewarded in the sixty-first minute when Rhys Millar timed his run on the right to remain onside and picked out David Beaton in the middle who stroked the ball home from six yards,
Chryston re-established their two-goal advantage from a sixty-ninth minute corner kick on the left. Saints failed to react to Darren McGhee's run to meet a short delivery from Ronan McLaughlin and were punished when McLaughlin's shot from McGhee's return pass deflected off Aaron McKay's outstretched boot and flew into the roof of the net.
Saints' Gaffer Steven MacLeod made a double change before the restart sending on Louie MacFarlane and Kuba Ryszka to replace Matty Pollock and Rhys Millar.
The visitors lost the services of defender Dylan Martin to a calf injury sustained in conceding a throw-in on the Saints' right deep inside Chryston territory. Dylan McLaughlin replaced Martin and Chryston were still adjusting to the personnel change when Aaron McKay's throw-in was helped-on by David Beaton and Kuba Ryszka into the six-yard box where Aaron Moore escaped the attentions of Ronan McLaughlin to sweep the ball home for his first ever Saint's goal.
Aedan Houston did well to take a Connor Beattie cross from the left off the head of Preston Macintyre but could do nothing to stop Macintyre's excellent control and finish from twenty-two yards to give Saints a seventy-ninth minute equaliser.
Despite this being a group stage match Scottish Premier Amateur Football Association local rules don't allow for drawn cup ties therefore the possibility of a penalty shoot-out loomed large at the stage.
Fortunately, neither side seemed content to settle the tie on penalty kicks and the action raged from end to end in the closing stages.
Preston Macintyre slid in to turn a low David Beaton cross from the left wide of the near post and came off worst in a collision with Jason Stevenson and Kuba Ryszka forcing his replacement with Innes Fraser after eighty-three minutes.
With five of the regulation ninety minutes remaining Saints took the lead for the first time in the tie when David Beaton completed his hat-trick with a goal almost identical to Preston Macintyre's equaliser.
The visitors were pushing high up the pitch in an attempt to save the tie leaving gaps at the back which Saints threatened to exploit on the counterattack.
After surviving a hopeful Chryston appeal for a penalty kick in the third minute of stoppage time, Gavin Forgrieve's long ball forward was latched onto by Kuba Ryszka who calmly took the ball round the advancing Aedan Houston and slotted into the unguarded net to seal victory.
This coming Saturday 18th April the D&K Lafferty Contractors and MKM Oban Building Supplies sponsored Saints turn their attentions to the Scottish Premier Amateur Football Association Cinema Cup. The quarter final ties sees Saints welcome league title favourites and West of Scotland Amateur Cup semi-finalists FC Pather to Oban for what is sure to be a massive examination of the home side's ambitions of securing silverware in Manager Steven MacLeod's debut season.
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