A quickfire double from Bobby McLuckie was enough for East Kilbride to earn all three points against Edinburgh City at Meadowbank. Caitlyn Gordon reports.
A first half brace from Bobby McLuckie gave the visitors the victory at Meadowbank after a frustrating game of missed opportunities for Edinburgh City.
No changes were made to Michael McIndoe’s team that took victory over Dumbarton last Saturday. Quinn Mitchell made his return to the bench after injury while East Kilbride loanee Erik Sula was left out of the squad. Logan Myles departed the club to trial with Premiership side Dundee in the days leading up to the game.
The first opportunity of the match came the way of the visitors. Joao Balde bypassed City’s defence and took a shot at goal. However, Mark Weir saved the chance well to keep the scoreline goalless.
Cole Williams ramped up the pressure and delivered a promising cross to Olly McDonald in the 18th minute. The number nine attempted to head the ball in from the edge of the box, but the chance went wide.
East Kilbride came close to breaking the deadlock as Bobby McLuckie ran up the left side successfully passing to Cami Elliott who was lurking in the centre of the box. The forward took an ambitious shot with his left foot, but his effort was blocked well by City’s defence. However, the save couldn’t be replicated moments later as a charging McLuckie slotted the ball past Weir, to open the scoring at Meadowbank. McLuckie then doubled the visitors lead in the 37th minute.
An opportunity opened up for City to bounce back as Ouzy See entered the box and took a strong strike with his left foot, but the ball narrowly went wide.
Callum Brodie was brought on in the second half to make his first appearance since signing his first professional contract with the club. Brodie has featured several times this season, officially becoming City’s youngest ever player, and has been rewarded for his efforts with a new deal.
City had the opportunity to bounce back in the second half as a foul on Quinn Mitchell resulted in a penalty. Malik Zaid stepped up to take the shot but his attempt was saved well by the East Kilbride goalkeeper.
A quick succession of opportunities opened up for City with Innes Lawson and Zaid both having two chances on goal, but Joe Morrison kept the ball out.
City were hunting for a goal in the final minutes of the ninety, with both See and Zaid having opportunities. However, both chances did not amount to anything, bringing a close to a disappointing match.
Following the match Michael McIndoe gave his thoughts on the result, stating his frustration with the result but remained positive about the overall performance.
“I really enjoyed the game, I think we controlled large parts of the game. I thought the boys were really good. Look at the stats today, we out-passed them, look at the shots, very similar. I think if we are being honest, they were slightly more clinical than us when they had the opportunities to take the goals.
“We have to be proud of that team today, we are still gelling, we are still getting a few tactical things to learn as a group, for me a lot of positives for me today.”
“This is the first time we haven’t scored in a league game since last April or May, that is phenomenal when you look at such a young team.”
“We have the best away record in the league. I wanted to see us outpass them and control the game start to finish and I felt we did that in large spells. You got to be proud of a team that we’ve thrown together in the past three or four weeks, to play like that and to dominate, but we lacked a little bit of cutting edge.”
