LIE LASH SIX PAST CRUSHED ST ANT'S

Published 12 Aug 2009 14:49

Arthurlie 6 St Anthony's 1

ARTHURLIE found their shooting boots again as they hit St Anthony's for six and set up a winner-takes-all tie against rivals Pollok on Thursday night's last Sectional League Cup tie.

A Craig Malcolm hat-trick along with goals from Sean Winter, Stephen Gallacher and Graham Dale saw the Lie cruise to a 6-1 win.

Arthurlie manager Mark Cameron said: "It will be a very tough game against Pollok but I'm confident going into the game.

"It was a good win against St Anthony's and it came on the back of a rusty performance against Neilston, who performed very well.

"We know it will be very difficult against Pollok as they're always a strong team.

"Both sides are aware of how capable they are - it's just a case of who produces the goods on the night."

After early St Anthony's pressure, the Barrhead side had a stranglehold on the game and the Lie were nearly awarded a penalty on 15 minutes.

Malcolm latched on to a slack back pass before being felled from behind but the referee waved away claims for a spot-kick.

A minute later though justice was done, a long ball found John Bradford who hit the by-line before sending over a back-post cross that Sean Winter headed home to open the scoring.

On 22 minutes the Ants were given an opportunity to equalise when Stephen Gallacher was harshly adjudged to have blocked the Ants forward's run and a penalty was awarded.

Neil Parry however was at his agile best to get down low to his left and smother the kick.

His kickout resulted in an Arthurlie attack but somehow the Ants clearance ended up at Gary Madden's feet and from 40 yards sent a fantastic curled effort high over Parry and into the back of the Arthurlie net to level the scores.

Just after the half-hour, a period of sustained Arthurlie pressure finally paid dividends when the ball broke to Malcolm.

In one movement the Lie forward controlled the ball on his chest and turned before sending a right-foot effort low past the Ants keeper.

On 36 minutes the now rampant Malcolm made it three.

Charging in on goal from midfield he ignored Lee Sharp's fantastic overlap to cut inside and fire home with ease.

The second half began with Arthurlie again controlling the pace and tempo of the match without really threatening.

Malcolm went on a mazy run before coolly

slotting past the Ants keeper and getting his hat-trick and Stephen Gallacher made it 5-1 from a Callan Adams' corner moments later.

The visitors rounded off the victory when Sharp broke inside right on full time and tried his luck, his blocked effort fell to trialist Dale, who hit a cross-come-shot with the outside of his left foot which, wind assisted, curled and eventually nestled in the postage-stamp corner of the home net.

It was a well- deserved victory for an Arthurlie side who know harder challenges lay ahead.

The first will be the sectional decider against Pollok at Newlandsfield, tomorrow (Thursday), Thursday 7pm kick off.

Arthurlie start their league campaign on Saturday to Petershill at Petershill Park with kick off at 2pm.

Tweet

This article appeared in Barrhead News 12 Aug 09

Follow @barrheadnews

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Sport archives.