St Andrews United hosted Kilbirnie Ladeside for the first time since February 2012 but manager Garry Wright was unable to select Owen Andrew and John Tod due to injury. Andy Johnston and Finlay Kerr were also cup-tied so Dan Hall and James Collins returned to the starting eleven, whilst Lewis Payne replaced Andrew in attack. Saints therefore took time to settle and Kilbirnie dominated possession during the opening ten minutes. Lewis Sawers then engineered a good counter-attack before passing to Lewis Payne yet the tall striker shot straight at Calum Robertson. Collins also fired a shot wide at the end of the next attack and Sawers forced Robertson into making a terrific save as the action swung from end to end. The next opportunity went to the visitors, who were shooting down the hill, but the moment was soon lost as a result of hesitation. However, Ladeside took the lead in the 16th minute when Ryan McGubbins found Scott Lewis with a great through-ball and the latter kept his composure to beat Logan Halliday in the home goal.

Ross Cunningham then earned a free kick within shooting range at the other end of the park yet Ryan McManus could not find the target from the resulting set piece. McManus subsequently found his range a few moments later when he whipped a great cross towards the back post and big Dan Hall marked his birthday weekend by smashing a knock-down past McGubbins in the 38th minute. Unfortunately, St Andrews United was only level for six minutes thereafter because CJ Johnston headed a great corner from Mikey Wilson past a helpless Halliday, just as the players were thinking about their half time refreshments. United manager Garry Wright thus made three changes at the interval as Luke Mahady, Lewis Payne and Lewis Craik replaced Mikey Ness, Tom Milne and Ross Cunningham respectively. Indeed, those replacements made an immediate impact because Sawers forced Robertson into making a superb save before Craik stabbed the rebound past the post.

Both sides went on to earn a couple of corners as the crowd was entertained by two fully committed sets of players and Payne caught the eye with some lung-bursting runs down the right flank. Not surprisingly, the next goal came after such a run by Payne and Mahady was on hand to convert the cut-back from close-range in the 68th minute. Fellow substitute James Hennessy also caused the away defence problems with his strong-running throughout the second half, whilst McManus impressed with his probing passing and long-range shooting.

Tennent then earned a yellow card for tripping Sawers and the hard-working Kyle Sneddon clipped a shot just over Robertson’s crossbar as the hosts upped their efforts. However, Kilby almost added a third goal when McManus cleared a loose ball off his own line and the result was hard to predict at that stage. That being said, Saints looked more likely to score as they won three corners in quick succession and the third of those led to the breakthrough goal in the 80th minute. Hennessy found the net from a position near the back post with a side-footed finish then the result was put beyond doubt when Craik notched a beauty of a goal during injury time. Saints consequently progressed to the last 32 of the South Challenge Cup thanks to a good second half performance and some big names now lie in wait ahead of the next round.

Match Report by Don Burnett

Crowd: 125