Kilbirnie Ladeside 3
Maybole Juniors 3


The hosts were quick out of the blocks and raced to a three-goal lead midway through the first half, but Kerr reduced the deficit to one just before the interval with two quick goals and then grabbed an equaliser inside the final five minutes.
With last night's game against Troon in mind, Peter Leonard changed his side about and packed his midfield leaving Kerr up front on his own, with Andy Boyle given with the job to get up and support the hitman.
The change in formation seemed to confuse the players and none were sure who they were supposed to be picking up. Ladeside's opener came from Stevie Miller's 30-yard free-kick which took a deflection and wrong-footed the keeper and rolled into the net.
Their second followed quickly when Carlo Walker halted the run of Chris Erskine inside the area and the referee pointed to the spot.
Alan Kinney made no mistake in dispatching the spot-kick to double his side's advantage.
Ladeside were threatening to run away with the game and their quick passing football on a slippery surface was causing 'Bole no end of problems.
Nine minutes before half-time, some determined work from Miller on the byline saw his cross deflected into the path of Stuart Peacock, who could only clear into his own goal.
Leonard quickly changed things and brought on Andy Stevenson for Walker and reverted back to his tried and trusted 4-4-2 formation. The players were back to a system they knew and felt comfortable with, and within minutes they had pulled one back.
Some good play involving Chris Clarke and Boyle found Kerr, who cut in from the right and fired into the bottom right-hand corner, leaving Paul McCann without a chance.
Just moments later, Kerr struck again. This time he collected a poor back-pass by Neil Rankin and finished past McCann for the second time in two minutes.
It was a complete contrast from five minutes earlier, when Maybole looked dead and buried.
In the second half, Leonard again altered his formation, taking off Craig Stevenson and bringing on Paul Templeton and switching to three at the back.
Both sides pushed for a goal and for 20 minutes it was real end-to-end stuff, with both sides creating scoring chances. It was a nervy closing period for the hosts, who are involved in a four-sided battle for a promotion spot come the end of the season, and it showed as passes were misplaced and they began to retreat into their own half.
With five minutes remaining, Maybole drew level.
As Ladeside failed to clear their lines, Barry Scott tried his luck from long-range and his effort cannoned off Kerr to send McCann the wrong way.
Both players tried to claim the goal as their own - but it was only ever going to be Kerr's.
Ladeside tried to get their noses back in front, but Maybole defended the remaining minutes well and held out for a point.
Maybole were also in action last night (Wednesday) against basement side Troon.
Read the report on this game in next week's Gazette.