Pollok had no time to rest on their laurels after an opening day win in the Lowland League West as they travelled to New Western Park to take on Renfrew in a midweek fixture.

The home side were right at it from the kick-off and early on got in behind down the right. The ball was cut back into the path of Harwood whose low shot was pushed round the post by McAllister. This was followed by another corner as Pollok struggled to get near the Renfrew goal in the opening ten minutes.

In the eleventh minute Gallacher headed the ball out wide to Watt who got his first chance to run at his full-back. He made half a yard and whipped in a dangerous cross which was headed up in the air. When it came down Cameron was on hand to volley home the opener. This appeared to flick a switch in the Pollok team who started spraying the ball about with some slick passing.

An outside of the foot thru ball from Cameron in the seventeenth minute found McCann and only alert goalkeeping from Donohoe kept the striker from doubling the lead. He was not to be denied two minutes later though. McGonigle played a beautifully weighted pass down the left to Walsh whose cross was perfection for McCann to slide in and knock it past the keeper.

The Southsiders were now in total ascendancy and playing some fantastic stuff. A great switch of play from McGonigle allowed Gallacher to combine with Watt whose cutback found Gallacher with a sight at goal but he curled his shot just over the bar. McGonigle showed his vision again a few minutes later when a well-timed pass saw McCann beat the offside trap and advance on goal. Donohoe came out to narrow the angle and managed to deflect McCann’s shot out for a corner.

After a penalty shout was waved away Pollok scored a third on the half hour mark and it was simplicity itself. Cameron won a corner on the left. Gallacher floated it in and Henry rose highest to head into the net.

Renfrew got a brief sight of goal when a shove on McCann went unpunished and Smith was able to advance on the Pollok rear-guard but he shot over from just outside the box.

Pollok’s fourth goal arrived in the 38th minute. Gallacher and Watt exchanged passes down the right and created some space for the former Clydebank man. He looked up and curled a ball to the back post where McCann and Cameron were making runs but they weren’t needed as ball flew straight in. It had been a devastating half hour of high tempo passing from Pollok which had produced four goals and taken the game away from Renfrew.

The home side did have a great chance for a first half consolation when a long ball into the box was headed up into the air by McLauglin and then mis-controlled by Walsh to set up a good shooting opportunity but McAllister was there with a superb save to deny Renfrew.

HALF-TIMEl: RENFREW 0 – 4 POLLOK

Pollok understandably dropped the tempo a touch in the second half with the game in their grasp and players just getting up to speed in the season’s early stages. They did however still look dangerous when they came forward. Gallacher switched the play to McGonigle whose whipped cross was brilliantly defended with a header over their own bar. From the corner the ball fell for Leyden had but he had a fresh air swipe.

With fifty-five minutes gone Cameron burst on to a McGonigle flick but was caught late by Healey. Most in the ground expected a yellow but the referee saw it as a red and the home side were down to ten men.

Some fine passing a couple of minutes later advanced Pollok up the pitch where Leyden found Watt with an incisive pass allowing the winger a sight of goal but his effort went narrowly wide. A few minutes later a similar passage of passing play started by McAllister ended with Cameron squaring it to McCann in the box. The pass was slightly over hit for a first time shot but the striker gathered it and, on the turn, shot just over the bar.

Renfrew got on the scoresheet in the seventy-third minute. A second corner in quick succession was missed by McAllister and although Cameron was able to clear at the back post it ricocheted straight back at him off an attacker and hit his hand. The referee pointed to the spot and Cook coolly sent McAllister the wrong way.

The game rather limped to its conclusion with the destination of the points decided in the first half and a raft of substitutions doing nothing for the flow of the game. McGonigle did have a chance of notching a deserved goal but his glancing header went over.

FULL-TIME: RENFREW 1 – 4 POLLOK

Attendance: 313

Man of the Match: Oliver Cameron

Report by Peter Thomson

Photos from James Graham