Civil Service Strollers got their Scottish Lowland League campaign off to a winning start and picked up three points on the road on Saturday at Gretna 2008.
The game started with both teams playing some good football and creating chances. In the opening fifteen minutes, Gretna were on top, but Civil settled in the game and started to pass the ball around well.
Just as it looked like the teams would go in level at the interval David Churchill fired Strollers in front. He picked up on a loose ball on the edge of the box and his shot nestled in the back of the net.
Into the second half and Churchill was again in the thick of the action, but this time received a red card for an off the ball incident. This spurred Gretna on, and they created some good chances, but Stuart Burnside in in the Strollers goal was equal to them.
The best came from Tommy Whitehead when he was picked the ball up in the box, and his shot from point blank range was stopped by the keeper.
Moments later Burnside again had to react quickly when a Jamie Hope shot looked like it was going in the top corner.
The big keeper had other ideas and managed to get a fingertip on the ball and push it over for a corner.
Andy Mair sealed the victory in the dying stages when his tricky run caught out the defenders, and he fired the ball into the net from the edge of the box.
Strollers Manager, Alex Cunningham, was happy with three points. He said: “Raydale is always a hard place to come but the boys played well and I am delighted with the three points.”
Civil will host local neighbours Spartans FC on Wednesday night in the Lowland League at Christie Gillies Park with kick off at 7.15pm.
Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874
