Kilbirnie Ladeside vs. Pollok

Goals from Mark Donnelly:

Full highlights from Mark Donnelly:
Murdie MacKinnon’s post match thoughts:
Goals from Johnny Lyon and Bryan Wharton seal the points for Lok.
PREVIEW
It’s an away trip to North Ayrshire on Saturday for Pollok as we travel to Valefield Park to face Kilbirnie Ladeside.
Last weekend proved fruitful as the ‘Lok moved top of the table, if we beat Kilbirnie we can open up a three point gap, albeit with Auchinleck having a couple of games in hand, due to their cup runs. Goals from Stuart McCann and Callum Graham secured a 2-1 win against Troon at Newlandsfield to extend our unbeaten run to eleven games in all competitions. Stuart McCann and Callum Graham are closing the gap on top goal scorer Adam Forde, who still leads with 10 goals with McCann on 8 and Graham on 7.
Last weekend Kilbirnie went down 2-0 away to Kilwinning, they currently sit 18th in the Premier Division with a record of won 3, drawn 2 and 12 losses, with 11 points. Shaun Dillon and Thomas Molloy took over the club as joint managers in August, after four years at Greenock, they replaced Martin Ferry.
The Blasties were formed in 1901 and have won the Scottish Junior Cup twice in 1952 and 1977. Their last trophy was the Ardagh Glass Cup in 2016.
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Kilbirnie Ladeside v Pollok

Pollok travelled to Valefield Park on League business on the back of a busy midweek of League Cup action. Valefield Park was resplendent in black and yellow with the pitch itself looking absolutely superb.

Pollok were forced into a few changes due to injuries and suspension for their biggest test so far this season. The game got off to a typically frenetic start with little in the way of passing football. Larkin headed a corner over the bar whilst under pressure from the Kilbirnie defence and then had another header saved on the line.

Although Pollok had edged the early stages the breakthrough came at the other end. Slack play in the Pollok rear-guard left the Kilbirnie striker in a race against Lumsden in the Pollok goal. Lumsden looked to have won the tight race and got to the ball first, pushing it away for a throw ? however the referee deemed the following contact a foul and pointed to the spot. Chris Craig stepped up and confidently slotted the ball into the bottom right hand corner.

Pollok took a wee while to recover from this blow and although they had the lion?s share of possession never really threatened an equaliser in the remainder of a disappointing first half.

The second half resumed in a similar pattern to the first. Kilbirnie were happy to sit in on their lead as is their right and Pollok huffed and puffed without creating any clear cut chances. Duff was having some joy down the right but the crosses were either blocked or just out of reach of the strikers. Dallas replaced Morton with twenty five minutes to go as Pollok stepped up the chase for an equaliser.?

In the eighty ninth minute with the Kilbirnie defence now very deep and Pollok pushing on Kilbirnie?s Scullion was able to race clear on the breakaway in the inside left channel. Mark Sideserf managed to cover a lot of ground to get a challenge in but the referee deemed it an unfair one and the denial of a clear goal-scoring opportunity. The red card was flashed.

Despite being a man down Pollok continued to push and a number of balls were played into the Kilbirnie box in injury time but no one could seriously trouble Hughes in the Kilbirnie goal who was having a relatively stress free birthday weekend. Pollok had one last shout for a penalty ? at least their third reasonable claim of the game ? when Dallas was pulled to the ground as a cross came in but the claims were to no avail.

It had been a disappointing ninety minutes in terms of entertainment but that will not have bothered Kilbirnie or their fans as they pocketed three precious points with a solid defensive display.?

 

Match footage from Davie Brown & Mark Donnelly

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Kilbirnie Ladeside vs. Pollok

Match highlights c/o Davie Brown

Live updates:

Full-time: A very comfortable result for Lok.

Stef McCLUSKEY nets for Lok in 69 minutes (4-0)

A goal flurry before half-time with?Mikey McWILLIAMS (43) and Tony COUTTS (45) both hitting the target.

Lok go ahead through Stuart McCANN in 3 mins (1-0)

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Kilbirnie Ladeside v Pollok

Goals from Mark Donnelly
Kilbirnie Ladeside 1-1 Pollok
West of Scotland Superleague
Valefield Park, Saturday 18th November 2017
Pollok returned to League action after a triumvirate of cup-ties, travelling to Kilbirnie Ladeside?s Valefield and returning with a share of the points after a 1-1 draw.
?Lok took the lead in the 21st minute through former Valefield favourite Adam Forde. The striker skilfully cut inside from the right to unleash an unstoppable shot into the top right hand corner of Kieran Hughes? goal.
Ladeside?s best chance of the opening half came when Reece Williamson danced through two defenders on the right, his shot coming back off the upright.
The Blasties restored parity six minutes into the second period, a corner kick was headed back across goal where James Finlay was in the right place to net from close range.
Momentum looked to be going with the homesters, and their cause was helped when Pollok were reduced to ten men after Grant Evans received the order of the march for a foul on the left wing.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, Pollok continued to have their share of the last half hour, but ultimately no further goals were scored.
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Kilbirnie Ladeside v Pollok

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Kilbirnie vs Pollok

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Kilbirnie vs Pollok

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