ARTHURLIE returned to Barrhead as heroes on Saturday following a fantastic performance to secure their first silverware since 2011.

In a season where everything seemed to go against them, it’s fair to say Saturday’s West of Scotland Cup final with Kilwinning Rangers went their way.

The afternoon was made all the more better as their league status was also confirmed thanks to Hurlford’s 2-1 victory over Shotts Bon Accord.

Kilwining Rangers started brightly and took the lead in rather bizarre circumstances after just five minutes. A Kris Robertson kick went straight to Brian Boylan who was on the edge of the penalty area and after controlling the ball raced in on goal and calmly slotted the ball past Robertson who had managed to get back inside his area.

This seemed to bring Arthurlie to life and they started to come into the game and were dominating possession without really showing a cutting edge.

However Lie levelled on 25 minutes, Arthurlie won a throw in on the left and Ryan McArdle got the ball to Gary Smith who laid it back to Conner McGlinchey. SMITH set off down the left and McGlinchey threaded a fantastic ball through to the front man who cut inside and steadied himself before coolly slotting the ball home under the body of keeper Fraser Stewart.

Five first half minutes remained when Arthurlie got the second goal their play merited, Eddie McTernan sent over a great cross that saw McArdle loop a header that forced a fantastic save from Stewart to tip the ball over for a corner. The resulting kick was taken short by McArdle who played the ball back to Rhys Devlin whose first time cross was met on the volley by McGREGOR at the back post for a wonderfully worked goal.

Half-time: Arthurlie 2-1 Kilwinning Robertson looked to have injured himself in making a great block from Calvin Kemp after 15 second-half minutes when he collided with the upright. Five minutes later however it was 3-1 to the Barrhead side. Pressing down the right the ball broke to Devlin who sidestepped a challenge before sending the ball into the danger zone where SMITH rose highest, his downward header looked an easy take for Stewart but the ball bounced up and hit the keeper’s shoulder and went over the line.

But just after the 75 minute mark the Barrhead side suffered a blow when captain McGregor instinctively stuck his hand out to stop a through ball and received his second yellow, reducing Arthurlie to 10 men.

Alan Muir was immediately introduced for Chris Dallas to shore up the midfield but it was Arthurlie who scored next.

A long clearance from Gavin Rushford went over the heads of the Kilwinning defence and SMITH raced through before cutting the ball back across the face of Stewart to complete his hat trick.

With four minutes to go the Hurlford United final score had filtered through to Newlandsfield so even when Chris McGowan hit home from close range , it couldn’t dampen the spirits of the Barrhead support among the crowd.

Arthurlie: Robertson, Devlin, Blakey, McGlinchey, Rushford, Green, McTernan, McGregor, Dallas, Smith, McArdle.

Subs: Burns, Muir, Lyden, Stewart, Bannister.