Soccer World Division Three at Aulton on Saturday 20th September
ARI had to settle for a point after their wins in the past two weeks. They went a goal down within a minute but this did not deter them and made them fight for every ball.
Mearns kicked off and a move down the left by Causby and Kirkland let Beel through and he coolly slipped the ball under the advancing keeper Susmarski to score the club”s fastest goal this season.
The game was a bit scrappy in the next fifteen minutes with both teams failing to penetrate the defences. Mearns’ Causby did break through in the fifteenth minute but a very weak shot was held by keeper Susmarski. ARI’s strikers got no further than the eighteen yard line and any shots they tried were off target.
On the half hour mark Mearns’ Legge found Law unmarked on the edge of the eighteen yard box and with no- one near him he put his shot way over the bar. Five minutes later ARI’s Irvine tried an overhead kick that scraped the post and went out of play.
Mearns’ caught ARI standing claiming for offside when Abernethy ran through and miskicked his shot giving keeper Susmarski an easy save. In forty minutes a pass back by ARI’s Burnett was picked up by the keeper and referee D’Arcy awarded a free kick ten yards out. The kick was slipped to Abernethy whose shot was cleared off the line. Just before half time ARI had the ball in the net but it was chalked off for offside.
Half time 0-1
In fifty five minutes a poor clearance from ARI’s Burnett gave McSloy a shot a goal which went over the bar. A fierce drive from Mearns’ Causby in sixty three minutes rattled the bar before being cleared upfield.
ARI were having the better of the closing stages and in eighty minutes Constable got the equaliser after fine work by Gordon who beat two men, rounded the keeper and passed the ball to Constable who scored from five yards. 1-1 ARI forced Mearns to defend deep in their own half but poor finishing kept the final score at 1-1.
Full-time 1-1
ARI Thistle: Susmarski, McIntosh, Pacetti, Riley, Burnett, Middleton, White, Irvine, Constable, Gordon, George. Subs – Masson, Sim, Rennie, Hewitt, Milne.
Mearns Utd: Teperek, McSloy, Black, Bruce, Crabb, Beel, Law, Abernethy, Kirkland, Causby, Legg. Subs – Hutcheon, Dinnett, Donald, Jenneson, Lawson.
Referee – B. D’Arcy
