The Rovers travelled to Easterhouse to face old rivals Glasgow Isla in the GDSML League Cup Quarter final. The game started at a good pace with both teams getting stuck in from the 1st whistle. Early signs were good for the Rovers as Rory Watson and David Clancy caused all sorts of problems for the Isla full backs. Early in the 1st half Rovers moved the ball about well and applied plenty of pressure on Isla.
The deadlock was broken by the Rovers on 5 minutes, with a ball up to Watson in a central position who plays the ball out to Veitch on the right, Veitch controls the ball and switches it to clancy out wide on the left wing, he cuts inside onto his right foot and drives into the box and puts the ball into the back of the net from 14 yards out, 1-0.
13 minutes gone and the Rovers make it 2 -0, Watson has a burst of pace up the right wing, he cuts the ball back to Frank Coia who hit the back of the net from close range.
Rovers continue to dominate the ball and Isla did not have much of an answer until 20 minutes gone and Kevin Donaghy gave away a soft penalty by pulling his man in the box, the Isla PK taker struck the ball with precision into the top left hand corner, 2-1. Darren McDowall got close to making a save but could not keep it out.
Rovers almost made it 3-1 on 25 minutes as Carlo Santi broke forward from his deep lying midfield role to advance up the right of midfield, he plays a through ball to Coia who passes the ball past the onrushing Isla Keeper, unfortunately the ball bounced off the post denying Coia his second of the game.
Coia covering a lot of ground in the middle of the park making his presence felt with some good closing down and meaty challenges which ended up costing him a Yellow card midway through the second half.
Rovers kept position well in open play however really struggled with managing throw-ins however the Rovers attacking play provided a number of scoring opportunities and on 26 minutes stand in centre half Paul Gallagher come up from the back for a Rovers corner, Clancy steps up to take a corner, floats in a ball to the penalty spot where Gallagher attacked the ball with pace and the ball found the back of the net, 3-1.
Isla showed little in the way of pressure however on 35 minutes they worked the ball and won a corner. The ball was swung to the back post where the Isla won the header putting the ball back across the 6 yard box which they attacked well to score, 3-2. Rovers zonal marking players did not attack the ball with any conviction and Isla got a cheep goal, this is something that needs worked on for the Rovers.
Rovers started the 2nd half they way the played the 1st half with an attacking mentality and good speed on the wings. Anton Conetta and Carlo Santi worked well in the middle of the park breaking up the Isla attacks and Santi linked well with the midfield 3 in front of him.
On 56 minutes Santi put in a crunching tackle in the middle of midfield which the ref did not like and booked him, then on 62 minutes Rover won a penalty as Santi played the ball into Watson's feet, he bursts into the penalty box and was brought down. Coia steps up and slots home from 12 yards 4-2 to the good guys.
Tommy MacIntyre came on to replace Frank Coia on 67 minutes, Coia's passion to win the ball was going to result in a second yellow so after scoring two goals he was replaced to protect the lead. MacIntyre moves to Striker and Veitch Drops to Attacking centre midfield. The on 70 minutes Martin Clancy came on for brother David who was struggling with a tight hamstring.
Rovers slack throw-ins during the second half caused them a number of problems as keeping possession proved difficult, this was to cost the Rovers in the later stages of the second half as the Isla midfielder burst into the box at pace, Lewis Barnes moved across from CD to put pressure on the ball, he thought he could win the ball with a sliding tackle unfortunately he was mistake and he brought down the Isla player in the box for another penalty, a silly error as the player was dribbling away from goal. They took the penalty and scored to make it 4-3, 10 minutes to hold on for the rovers victory.
Rovers continued to attack and Veitch rattled the bar from outside the box with a viscous shot but Isla cleared the rebound. On 83 minutes Stuart Mauchan come on for Veitch, Mauchan moved to striker and MacIntyre dropped into the attacking midfield position.
The game finished 4-3 with the Rovers progressing to the Semi Finals of the GDSML League Cup.
