Rovers played host to Bellahouston today and got off to a great start with Chris Conway swinging in a cross from deep, Rory Watson made a good run into the box and head past the keeper , 1-0. Rovers kept applying pressure but the final ball often not good enough to threaten the Bellahouston goal.
On 10 minutes Rovers shot themselves in the foot when Carlo Santi played the ball back to Darren McDowell in goal. McDowall tried to play the ball to Conway at RB but the pass went straight to the Bellahouston striker who tapped in to make it 1-1.
Conditions were difficult for both sides and on 25 minutes the Bellahouston LM broken into the box with David Clancy bringing him down for a penalty which was dispatched with ease, 2-1. Rovers did not deserve to be 2-1 down on the balance of play so far.
Bellahouston full of confidence were flooding forward and the Rovers struggled to make the ball stick up front and on 38 minutes Santi was pressured into a back pass which was wayward, the Bellahouston striker picked up the poor pass and squared the ball for another tap in, 3-1. Rovers had the wind knowcked out of their sails and struggled to find any momentum in the game. On 44 minutes a clash of heads at a corner saw Lewis Barnes off and Kevin Donaghy at CB but the change did little to improve the team performance as the next kick of the ball saw Bellahouseton score Direct from the corner with the Rovers zonal defence not attacking the ball with enough agression. 4-1
Rovers changed to a 433 in the second half to try and put pressure on the Bellahouseton back 4 and stop the fullbacks charging forward. The second half started well and the change looked like it might pay off, after some scrappy build up play on the right Veitch played the ball onto the box for Watson to tuck the ball away with a good strike into the keepers top left hand corner on 47 minutes, 4-2.
Rovers passing was sloppy and to often slow, this made it easy for bellahoston to put pressure on the ball and on hour mark a long searching ball was played over to the LB position. Paul Gallagher tried to intercept the pass and succeeded, unfortunately he played the ball in behind the Rovers defence straight to the bellahouston striker who gladly tucked it away to make it 5-2.
On 70 minutes Fraser Veitch came off for Conetta with Santi moving to SS. Energy levels were low all over the park so on 75 minutes Martin Clancy continued his return to full fitness replacing Coia in CM and Stuart Mauchan came on up front with Santi dropping back to CM as Fraser Graham came off. Unfortunately this was not Rovers day and the changes did not effect the flow of the game. In the dying minutes of the match Donaghy was booked for a poorly timed tackle and Gallagher was booked for decent. Bellahouston finished the game with a 6th goal, the ball was swung in from their RM, both Gallagher and Donaghy got a head to the ball yet the ball was still reached the bellahouston striker who headed past McDowall from inside the penalty area.
Overall Bellahouston were gifted 4 goals and this knowcked the confidence of Rovers unfortunaly Bellahouston full of confidence ran harder and fought harder for every ball which was lacking from the Rovers performance all over the pitch today and continues the Rovers Poor form at Home.
Bouncebackability? We shall see.
