NEILSTON co-manager Martin Campbell expects sparks to fly when his side meets Lesmahagow on Saturday after the last tie between the teams ended in controversy.

Lesmahagow were winning 3-1 when at Craighead Park back in October when referee Michael McCart blew for time after 81 minutes, apparently believing the 90 minutes were up.

Despite protests from the teams and management both sides were ordered off the pitch, only for McCart to later enter the Farmer’s Boys dressing room and ask them to come out and finish the game. Neilston refused with several of the players already showered and changed.

The farcical scenes prompted SJFA chiefs to rule the Central District First fixture to be replayed.

The teams meet for the first time since then at Brig O’Lea on Saturday and Campbell expects a fervent atmosphere among the players, admitting thoughts quickly turned to the Gow tie after Neilston’s 1-0 win over Rossvale on Saturday in the West of Scotland Cup.

He said: “I think it might be quite feisty on Saturday from both sides just with the way the last game panned out. As soon as Saturday’s game finished the focus turned to Lesmahagow in the social club up at Petershill. The players were talking about it straight away.”

The win over Rossvale puts Neilston into the hat for the last 16 and Campbell was pleased with the performance of his side after a spate of postponements hampered them in recent weeks.

He said: “I think neutral observers would say we probably deserved the win, we’ve hit the post and Brian Turner missed a penalty before coming up with a wonder strike to win the game for us. We played a lot of good football as well.”