Neilston kicked off their summer schedule this week with emphatic friendly wins over Johnstone Burgh U21s and Maryhill, bagging 10 goals over the two matches.

New arrivals Mark Archdeacon and Brian Ashe both bagged a brace, while the ever-reliable Stephen Docherty got himself on the scoresheet as the Farmer’s Boys ran out comfortable 5-0 winners over Burgh U21s at the McMaster Sports Centre, in Johnstone on Saturday.

The Brig O' Lea side then lined up against West Region League One outfit Maryhill last night at Toryglen Football Centre, easing to a 5-1 win in another dominant display with the goals coming from Stephen Stirling, Jamie Hay, Ashe and a Paul Stewart double. 

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Co-managers Derek Carson and Chris Cameron watched on, with Carson admitting they fared much better than expected at this stage of their pre-season programme.

“We were very happy with that,” Carson said. “We picked an under-21 side for our first pre-season friendly deliberately as we knew they would be young, fit and have a good go at it. We wanted a challenge like that to blow any cobwebs off, get the rustiness away nice and early and get us right back into it.

“It actually went a lot better than we expected. We could have scored a lot more goals and we looked sharp up front. Our strikers were all very unselfish on Saturday, which is actually the opposite of what we want here next season – we want our strikers to be selfish in the box.

“Two of the new boys got doubles on Saturday which was fantastic to see. I’m very pleased with that and pleased overall with how we performed after a few weeks away. 

“The only downside is Dylan Fletcher picked up a wee injury. He rolled his ankle but he’s a young boy so he should be able to bounce back and heal quickly. We’ll see how he is for the Auchinleck game on Saturday.”

Next up for Neilston now is a tough test against West Region Premiership champions Auchinleck Talbot at the Brig this Saturday, with Carson revealing he is relishing the challenge.

He said: “We actually asked the committee to try and arrange the Auchinleck friendly as we wanted to test ourselves against the best junior team in the country.

"We know there will be a lot of tough teams in our league next season so this is a good chance to see where the boys are at at this stage and what we will need to work on. 

“The boys will all be up for it so it will be a brilliant day.”

READ MORE: Three more check-in at the Brig as Neilston look to wrap up business

With co-boss Cameron telling Barrhead Sport last week that Neilston’s transfer business was all but complete but for a goalkeeper, the club this morning confirmed the arrival of stopper Lee Mitchell from local amateur side Todholm AFC to wrap up their activity.

Carson added: “We set out to get our squad finalised as early as possible and we’ve been able to do that. We’ve got a lot of important games coming up early on in the campaign so it was important to complete everything quickly.”

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