Carnoustie continued their excellent start to the season with a 3-2 win over Tayport at The Canniepairt on Wednesday night in which the home side had three players sent off.
Paul McLellan, Brian Clark, Ryan Roche, Jamie Robbie, Steven McPhee and Gordon Macdonald all returned to the starting line up after being rested for the game against Dundee North End.
The Gowfers started brightly and took the lead after just 5 minutes a great ball in to the box from McPhee was only partially cleared in to the path of Macdonald and as the ball ricocheted in to the path of Dignan, he was played on side by Ryan Suttie and the Carnoustie man made no mistake from 8 yards. Carnoustie continued to play good football but couldn’t find the way to convert the play in to goals. The home side threatened with Jamie Gill and Dayle Robertson causing problems but on 35 minutes Carnoustie extended their lead when Macdonald rose unchallenged at the near post to head home a McPhee corner. The home side pulled a goal back on 42 minutes with a great strike from Dayle Robertson but three minutes later they were reduced to ten men, as the ball went down the left, Gill and Harvey Dailly collided on the edge of the box and as both players went down the Tayport man appeared to strike out and hit Dailly on the back of the head, the referee was close to the incident and showed Gill a red card with the player picking up a second red card for comments made to the referee.
Carnoustie went 3-1 in front, 5 minutes after the break, McPhee moved in to the box but was brought down by Luke O’Brien and the referee pointed to the spot. Sam Simpson, who had replaced McLellan after 40 minutes, made no mistake, slamming the ball in to the bottom corner of Jack Shaw’s net. Tayport came more in to the game and pulled a second goal back on 74 minutes when Ryan Roche slipped and his poor clearance fell to Robertson and he slipped the ball past Jamie Robbie. Tayport were reduced to nine men on 80 minutes, Kris Rollo, who had been booked in the first half for dissent, pulled back Michael Cruickshank before pushing him off the ball and was shown a second yellow and then a red card. The game descended in to a bit of a farce as it lost its shape and with three minutes to go, Dayle Robertson and Jamie Robbie collided on the ground going for the ball and Robertson who like Rollo had been booked in the first half for dissent was shown a second yellow card and Tayport were reduced to eight men. The game ended with the referee receiving a significant amount of abuse from the Tayport support.
Carnoustie : Robbie, Cruickshank, Steel, Roche, Clark (Martin), McLellan (Simpson), Winter, Dignan, McPhee (Mair), Macdonald, Dailly
Subs Not Used : Hearn, Conway
