Abbey Vale FC v Creetown FC

After winning 3 matches in a row we travelled to Creetown in a confident mood. We had played Creetown in our first match of the season at New Abbey and drew 3-3. We threw a way a 2 goal lead and although we got a point we felt we had lost 2 points instead.
 
Our confidence was not misplaced as after dominating the opening exchanges we took the lead in 10 minutes. A long clearance from keeper Johnston was allowed to bounce over the Creetown defence and Baxter nipped in behind to fire a left foot drive beyond their keeper to give us the lead. We then proceeded to take charge of the rest of the half but it wasn’t until the 40th minute we got our next goal. Once again Baxter was involved but this time he supplied the cross for substitute Cravens to score with a diving header at the back post. However, Creetown pulled a goal back 2 minutes later when Mellon fired past Johnston who had come rushing out of his goal to try and clear.
 
H.T Creetown 1 Vale 2
 
The 2nd half was only 4 minutes old when we restored our 2 goal advantage when Malin scored with a shot which went in off the far post from another pinpoint cross supplied by Baxter. Only a minute later, Creetown were reduced to 10 men when McMillan received his 2nd yellow card. Within 5 minutes, Fraser Maxwell scored our 4th goal when he finished off a neat 1-2 with Malin. We seemed to relax a bit after this and this allowed Creetown to gain a bit more possession, but without really troubling us until the 70th minute. They were awarded a penalty when McCormack pushed a Creetown attacker in the box under no real pressure, and to compound matters further, he received a straight red card. Creetown striker Mellon made no mistake from the spot as he smashed the ball high into the net. This gave Creetown a bit of belief and they pressured us while we tried to re-adjust to the red card. But we held them back and then hit them a 5th time in the 82nd minute. The ball was cleared from a Creetown corner up to Cravens who was left unmarked on the halfway line. He turned and made for goal with only 1 defender in his way. As he went past the defender he seemed to lose control of the ball but still managed to get a left foot shot away which somehow squirmed under the Creetown keeper for or 5th goal. This took the sting out of Creetown and we played the last few minutes out with no more goal chances for either side.
 
F.T Creetown 2 Vale 5
 
This was another excellent performance which sees us into our first semi-final since season 2005/2006 when we won the Tweedie Cup. Best on the day for us was a difficult choice yet again but the award was split between Ricky Baxter and Fraser Maxwell
 
Referee Mr C Graham (Glasgow)
 
DM