by Robert Burns The players carried out their warm ups in beautiful conditions as the sun bore down on the Brig O’Lea, but as the teams lined up to start the match it was a white out as snow covered the famous old ground — only to be followed by sleet, then hail and beautiful sunshine once more.

The home side took the lead on 10 minutes through Derek KENNEDY, however a minute later Neilston keeper James Digney was made to scramble across his line before finally managing to turn away an effort from Cumbernauld’s number 10.

Just after the 25 minute mark the game was level.

Cumbernauld had an effort blocked on the edge of the box but the danger wasn’t cleared properly and the ball eventually fell to Mackie who slid it home to level the scores.

Both sides had efforts in the remainder of the first half but neither really tested the opposition’s keeper and the teams went in even at half-time.

Into the second half and it was to be unlucky 13 for the home side as a through ball saw McGuigan race through from what looked an offside position but the assistant kept his flag down and the forward ran on before side footing beyond the helpless Digney in 58 minutes.

Six minutes later it was 3-1 when that man McGuigan was first to a blocked effort to grab his second of the afternoon.

Neilston grabbed themselves a lifeline in 78 minutes when, after some pinball in the Cumbernauld penalty box, Bryan SMITH fired home to hand Andy Whiteford’s men a chance.

However the game’s main talking point was still to come in the remaining minutes.

A coming together in the Neilston penalty box saw Farmer’s Boys full back Kieran McDade fall to the deck, where a Cumbernauld player lashed out by kicking the defender in the face.

McDade’s teammate Martin McInnes leapt to his defence and received a red card for his reaction, while the instigator of the clash remained on the field.

Not to be despondent, the decisions actually seemed to spark the home side to life as they chased an equaliser.

Graham Barbour had a shot deflected that looped over the bar, and with a minute remaining they had strong calls for a penalty turned down.

Barbour had the game’s best effort but the it will be the performance of the officials that will be talked about for a long time to come.

Neilston: Digney, McGhee, Murphy, McInnes, McDade, Diack, Kennedy, Docherty, McKay, Craig, Tulloch.

Subs: Stevenson, Smith, Barbour, Cameron and Sinclair.