Arthurlie boss Duncan Sinclair heaped praise on his side’s second-half performance after watching them hammer Irvine Victoria 7-1 on Saturday to pick up their fourth win on the bounce.

The Barrhead club opened the scoring after just 10 minutes after Tam McGaughey was alert enough to tap home from a rebound as they looked to carry on their excellent form.

McGaughey had the chance to double the lead moments later but flashed his effort wide and Lie were made to rue that mistake as Vics hit back to level less than a minute later with a sublime overhead kick.

That seemed to spark Arthurlie back to life and they went on to restore their lead 23 minutes in when Tony Etherson got on the end of David Reid’s cross for his first of the season.

Sinclair revealed after the match that there were some choice words at the break after letting Vics off the hook, and that was clearly evident right from the off after the interval with Liam Mushet adding a third.

READ MORE: Arthurlie continue revival with battling Kilsyth win

McGaughey popped up three minutes later to grab his second of the afternoon and ninth of the season as ruthless Lie began to turn the screw.

McGaughey turned provider for Lie’s fifth, laying it off for Reid who slotted home for his first of the afternoon.

Reid was on hand once again to head home Lee Roulston’s cross for his second before completing his hat-trick to round off the emphatic win with a sublime strike from the edge of the box.

Barrhead News: Sinclair was delighted with his side’s emphatic second-half displaySinclair was delighted with his side’s emphatic second-half display

“I’m over the moon with how that one turned out,” Sinclair said. “I thought the first-half was a bit of a battle so I need to give Irvine credit.

“If I’m being hyper-critical then I would have to say we lose a really poor goal and stumble in 2-1 up at the interval.

“There was a few well-chosen words at the break to be honest. That’s not to say we had a go at them, but we just told them how we wanted them to go about their business in the second-half.

“We wanted them to get it down on the floor and close Vics down with more intent.

“To be fair to them all, they went and did just that. To a man, they were all fantastic in the second-half. We go on to score five goals which was great to see on top of the improved performance.

“That was right up there with the Kilsyth win at the beginning of the season as one of the most pleasing displays of the year for me with the way they responded to the words at the break and carried it out to a tee.”

READ MORE: Lie make lightwork of Irvine Vics in West of Scotland Cup clash

Lie are back at Dunterlie this weekend as they welcome third place Renfrew.

Arthurlie’s last league loss came against Frew at New Western Park back in October as Colin Clark and Martin Ferry’s side ran out 4-2 winners.
Lie went down to 10 men early on in that one with Sinclair hopeful of keeping all 11 men on the field this time.

He added: “We know we played well in the second-half with 10 men so hopefully we can keep 11 on the park and turn in a similar performance with a different result.

“They’re one of the top teams in the league so you always want to test yourself against them.”

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