DUNCAN Sinclair couldn’t hide his delight after Arthurlie extended their winning run to five matches with a 2-1 victory away to Port Glasgow as they progressed into the second round of the West of Scotland Cup.

It was a nervy first 45 with both sides struggling to cope with the swirling wind at Parklea with the only real talking point coming inside the opening 10 minutes after a scramble in the box led to Lie captain Liam Mushet and Port’s Dylan McLaughlin both going off injured. 

Into the second-half and the Barrhead side looked much more of a threat going forward and quickly got their noses in front when Hal Bohme’s corner caught the wind to sneak in at the near post to give Sinclair’s men a fortuitous lead. 

With the wind still a factor, the visitors tried their luck from distance with Conor Bradley’s 30-yarder going close as Arthurlie pushed for a second. 

Lie were dominating possession in the final third and it looked like it would be when, not if, they would get their second with James Marks going close. 

Sinclair’s side managed to eventually double their advantage with substitute Josh Payne latching on to Del McNab’s through ball before sublimely lobbing it over the keeper from outside the area.

Port Glasgow hit back quickly, however, after a wicked deflection left James Digney stranded in the Arthurlie goal but they failed to build on that as the visitors comfortably saw it out to book their place in the second round draw which will take place this Saturday.

Barrhead News:

A happy man...Duncan Sinclair 

And despite it becoming somewhat of a scrappy affair in difficult conditions, Sinclair was still over the moon with his side’s efforts.

“I’m a very happy man after that,” he told Barrhead Sport. “The boys were excellent on Saturday. I knew it was going to be a scrappy game because of the weather but the performance doesn’t matter in a cup tie, it’s all about winning and getting through to that next round which we’ve done.

“The winter period is always difficult for any club, so to come through that with five wins is great. We’ve had a couple of injuries to deal with and have a couple again this weekend but the boys have been great. I can’t fault them at all. Their attitude and application has been superb. The run we’ve had and the way we’re playing is because they’re so fit. They deserve all the credit.”

Arthurlie get back to league business this weekend as they welcome Irvine Victoria to Dunterlie Park as they attempt to make it six wins on the bounce.

Lie brushed Irvine aside 5-1 in the reverse fixture back in October but Sinclair is wary of letting any complacency sneak in.

He added: “It’ll be another hard game this weekend against Irvine. Believe it or not, we found it difficult down there in the opening stages before we scored a couple before half-time to help us. 

“I expect a difficult game and it’s like I always say, you’re only as good as your next game so hopefully we can get the boys up for training this week and get the game on. I know the weather is due to be bad but we’ll face that when we come to it.”