Albion Rovers boss Sandy Clark says his side showed the bits of quality they will require to be successful in the Lowland League this season, as they came from behind to sink Cumbernauld Colts in the NL Cup semi-final.
The Wee Rovers trailed at the break after Keelan Adams' 24th minute strike, but rallied after the break to sink their Lowland League rivals courtesy of fine finishes from striker Joe Bevan and captain Michael Paton.
Clark's side now progress into tomorrow's final against either Airdrie or Motherwell U18s, who play in the later game at Broadwood, and he was pleased with his side's overall showing in their first pre-season clash, in which they fielded 13 triaists during the game.
He said: “It was two good finishes from two good players. It was two bits of quality from Joe and Michael and that’s what we are going to need this season.
"It’s our first game of the season and it was a great exercise for us. We have the guys who started the game 60 minutes and the rest 30 minutes. We'll change that around tomorrow so everyone gets 90 minutes over the two games.
“But I felt the attitude was good, they worked really hard and got the fitness part of the game.
“You have to work hard to grind teams down and we did that fairly well in the game.
“I think Cumbernauld tired a bit because they didn’t make as many changes as us. “We had a lot of trialists out there who did themselves a lot of good
“Is there room for improvement? Of course there is."
Colts carved out the first chance in 13 minutes when Luke Carvel cut in from the left and curled a strike towards the bottom corner, which deflected narrowly wide of the post after 13 minutes.
And skipper Stephen O'Neill will feel he should have done better moments later when he honed in on goal and skewed his strike wide from 12 yards.
McCarvel looked dangerous and he forced Rovers keeper Ross Connolly into a good stop at his near post in 23 minutes, as the hosts looked the more likely to break the deadlock.
From the resulting corner, Colts found the opener. McCarvel swung the ball into the box and it fell kindly for Keelan Adams to rifle the ball into the top corner.
In 29 minutes Rovers almost equalised when Colts keeper Ryan Adamson spilled a shot from a trialist, and he had to claw the ball off the line to spare his blushes.
On the stroke of half-time, Connolly was forced into another good stop from a trialist and Colts had to clear a header off the line to hold onto their lead at the interval.
Four minutes into the second half Colts could have put the game to bed when good work from Billy Mortimer teed up Conor McLaren 12 yards out, however his low shot was saved by Connolly when he should have scored.
And that would prove costly for Colts.
Rovers were more fluid after the break and some neat play pulled them level in 55 minutes. A passage of play led to the ball being floated in behind for Bevan, who kept his cool to dink the ball over the keeper inside the box.
And three minutes later Rovers had completely turned it around, when captain Michael Paton's strike from distance found the bottom corner.
That was enough for Rovers and they saw the game out comfortably.
Colts boss David Proctor said: “The first half was really pleasing.
"But we were a bit wasteful with some of the opportunities we had, we need to be better at dealing with balls into the channels and we could be doing better with our clearances as well, but these are the fine margins that happen in pre-season.
“The new players that have stepped in have done well in the time we have had to work with them. When we got into a wee bit of a flow, we were working the ball really well and creating opportunities.
“There's definitely things we can work."
Colts return tomorrow to play the losing side from the Airdrie and Motherwell clash.
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