Saints Outshine Star
- Winning In The Rain
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Saturday 12th July 2025
Preseason Friendly
Oban Saints 4 - 1 Lochgilphead Red Star
Mossfield Stadium
Mossfield Avenue
Oban
Argyll
PA34 4EE
Kick-off 1.40pm
Referee Mr Jimmy Litster
Following another highly successful D&K Lafferty Cup Tournament, Oban Saints continued their build-up to the 2025-26 Scottish Premier Amateur Football Association season with a friendly match against nearest neighbours Lochgilphead Red Star at Mossfield Stadium last Saturday afternoon.
Holiday commitments and the TRNSMT and Tiree Music Festivals decimated the Saints line-up which saw Jamie Graham return to action to partner Ryan Barclay in central defence and Co-Manager Steven MacLeod join Connor Beattie on the sparsely populated substitutes bench. The other half of the management duo, Graham Douglas, kept his gloves in the bag and left the goalkeeping duties in the safe hands of Craig Maitland.
Red Star, on the other hand, were able to muster a seventeen-man squad for the trip up the A816. The Star management team of Iany Philips and Colin Weir included a number of the club's promising youngsters who were all afforded valuable game time in the first outing ahead of the new Greater Glasgow Premier Amateur Football League campaign.
Oban Saints Squad
Ryan Barclay
Connor Beattie
Donald Campbell
Innes Fraser
Jamie Graham
Matthew Kelly
Craig Livingstone
Keiron Lopez
Craig Maitland
Connor Moore
Fraser MacFarlane
Aaron McKay
Steven MacLeod
Lochgilphead Red Star Squad
Craig Aitken
Gregor Brown
Jade Butler
Rhys Casci
Keiran Caskie
Ryan Caskie
George Curran
Kyle Danson
Callum Green
Aaron Harris
Woody Hoad
Cole Houston
Cammy Lewis
Leon Murphy
Ollie MacKay
Neil Russell
Ben Tustin
With the mercury threatening to burst through the top of the glass, Referee Jimmy Litster elected to start proceedings early which would allow time for some much-needed water breaks.
Red Star made a bright start and were first to threaten with a Keiran Caskie effort from twenty-two yards which curled narrowly over Craig Maitland's crossbar.
Connor Moore's pace up front was to prove a thorn in the side for the Star defence and, when Jamie Graham sent the Saints' top marksman through after six minutes, Star keeper Leon Murphy was forced into action to gather safely at his near post.
Skipper Scott Maitland was among the Saints' absentees and his place on the left of the back four was taken by Keiron Lopez whose adventurous running earned a ninth minute free-kick twenty-five yards from goal. Fraser MacFarlane assumed responsibility for the dead ball which he lashed into the roof of the net to give the home side the lead.
Saints quickly regained possession from the restart and, when Woody Hoad's challenge sent Connor Moore sprawling inside the Star box, Referee Jimmy Litster had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot. Buoyed by his free-kick strike, Fraser MacFarlane grabbed the ball however his effort from twelve yards came closer to finding the Golf Club carpark than the back of the net.
Red Star's dead ball expert Craig Aitken was given a chance to find his range when Keiron Lopez was penalised for a twelfth minute foul on Neil Russell. Saints' keeper Craig Maitland had to watch carefully as former teammate Aitken curled his left foot effort into the side netting.
Maitland was however called into action three minutes later denying Neil Russell with his outstretched left boot. Maitland followed this up by diving full length to punch away another Craig Aitken free-kick.
Red Star continued to threaten after the first water break and Skipper for the day, Matty Kelly, made a vital front post interception to head a George Curran right wing cross behind for a corner-kick.
Fraser MacFarlane curled an effort inches wide of Leon Murphy's right-hand post from a quickly taken Aaron McKay free-kick before the visitors deservedly drew level. Keiran Caskie was left unattended on the edge of the Saints' eighteen-yard box from a throw-in on the Star right and had the time and space to measure an unerring finish into the top corner.
Parity however lasted barely five minutes when Matty Kelly gathered in Jamie Graham's thirty-eighth minute clearing header from another Star throw-in on the right. Kelly threaded a perfectly weighted pass through the inside left channel for Connor Moore who rounded the advancing Leon Murphy before rolling the ball into the unguarded net.
Ben Tustin thought he had pegged Saints back again in the fortieth minute however Referee Jimmy Litster, who handled proceedings well, correctly ruled that the big Star striker had strayed offside.
Craig Aitken's dead ball delivery almost undone the Saints defence five minutes into the second-half. Rhys Caskie met Aitken's in-swinging corner-kick from the right at the back post but Craig Maitland's reactions were equal to the task throwing up both hands to push the ball away.
After a slow start to the second-half Saints began to dominate, and Leon Murphy had a busy spell saving from Donald Campbell and twice from Connor Moore before watching his angles as Aaron McKay smashed a back-post header into the side netting.
After the second water break Connor Moore added a third for Saints racing away from Rhys Casci to poke the ball underneath the advancing Leon Murphy.
Young Cammy Lewis was inches away from reducing the deficit after cutting in from the left in the seventy-seventh minute and cracking a powerful shot off Craig Maitland's crossbar.
Connor Moore completed his hat-trick on the counter-attack when Matty Kelly's clearance from an eighty-seventh minute corner-kick sent him racing through. Moore successfully held off Rhys Casci before steering the ball wide of Leon Murphy to seal victory for Saints.
Craig Aitken's goal-line block to deny Matty Kelly was the concluding incident before Mr Litster brought to an end a good workout for both teams which, despite the extreme heat, maintained a high tempo throughout.
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