ARTHURLIE kept their feint promotion hopes alive on Saturday as they eased to a comfortable 4-0 win away to Larkhall Thistle with boss Duncan Sinclair praising his side for finding some much-needed form as the season draws to a close.
Lie opened the scoring 24 minutes in thanks to Del McNab who intercepted well before feeding it to Dan McKay whose first touch took him beyond two defenders before calmly rounding the Thistle keeper to roll it into an empty net.
James Marks was on hand to make the most of sloppy defending to double Arthurlie’s lead on the half hour mark as Sinclair’s side began to dominate proceedings.
READ MORE: Arthurlie boss urging side to get promotion push back on track
The hosts had Colin McGraw in goal to thank for keeping Lie at bay with the keeper producing a stunning stop just before the break after it fell to McKay in the area.
With Hal Bohme replacing Tony Etherson after the restart, a more attack minded Lie came close to adding to their tally on a number of occasions with Lee Roulston and Marks both going close.
Jamie Docherty was next to be introduced with McKay making way and it wasn’t long before he was directly involved in the action with his first-time cross finding Marks who saw his header go inches over before firing narrowly wide himself.
Fresh from a contract extension that will see him at the club until summer 2020, David Reid replaced Marks and made an almost immediate impact, gathering it deep to send a fantastic ball through to Docherty who flicked it beyond the stranded McGraw.
Docherty and Reid combined once again to add a fourth with minutes remaining with the former drilling a low shot home for his second of the afternoon.
And while Sinclair was pleased with the rout, his attention immediately turned to tonight as Lie get prepared to host league leaders Benburb.
He said: “First and foremost, the win was the most important thing but the way we went about it was a big bonus too. They started well but as soon we got the ball down and played, we started dominating the game and got a couple of good goals in the first-half which was pleasing.
“That was our first back-to-back win and first clean sheet since January so it’s an important time to be finding that kind of form once again. The unfortunate thing is we now have players missing for tonight against Benburb which will mean we need to bring in some boys from the under 21s.
READ MORE: Arthurlie boss demanding more from his side after Irvine win
“I’m not making any excuses but we are toiling a bit right now. Benburb are pushing to win the title so there’s a lot at stake. We’ve got 12 players fit so we’ll need to bring in a few under 21 players to bolster the squad and we’ll take it from there. We just need to get on with it, we’ve got a squad that are more than capable against anyone in this league but we’ll need to be at our best tonight.
“We could go four clear of Cumbernauld and put pressure on Rossvale. As I always say, as long as it’s mathematically possible we’ll be pushing for it.”
Lie v Benburb at Dunterlie Park will kick-off at 7pm.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article