Lanark, Shotts and Stonehouse go through in League Cup

Apr 3 2008

LANARK United, Shotts Bon Accord and Stonehouse Violet all made it through to the Central League Cup second round on Saturday.

United’s 5-2 win over 10-man Carluke Rovers sets up a cracking second-round clash against Bellshill ... and a return to the Moor Park dug-out for the former Lanark management team of Tam McDonald, John Gibson and Stevie Pillans.

Craig Miles played a major part in the win, bagging his second hat-trick of the season. Miles headed Lanark into a half-time lead from Tom Hanlon’s cross and added a second seven minutes after the break.

Mark Keegans grabbed Lanark’s third shortly after, and Keiron Downs set up a fourth for Miles before notching his own first goal for the club.

Stuart Arnott scored Carluke goals.

Lanark manager Tony McInally said: “It was a comfortable win without extending ourselves. We changed things tactically in the second half, which brought about some good things as we went from 1-0 to 5-0.

“For about 20-25 minutes we knocked the ball about well, created a number of opportunities and scored with four of them to kill off the game.

“I was pleased to see the goals shared about and that Mark Keegans scored his second in two games. I was delighted with Craig Miles getting amongst the goals after a long lay-off, and pleased to see Kieron Downs getting off the mark in a competitive game.”

Carluke boss Whitey Moffat groaned: “We would have done a lot better if we had managed to keep 11 men on the park.

“We had Willie Souter sent off for a second bookable offence after just 25 minutes.”

He added: “I thought we looked the better team in the first half, but losing a man so early in the game gave us an uphill battle.

“We pulled Mark Haddow into the back line, which meant we were weakened in the middle of the park. We made chances but couldn’t put them away.”

Stonehouse Violet overcame a Saturday morning hangover to beat Thorniewood United 4-3 in a tie switched to Robertson Park after Tilework Park had been vandalised and goal-posts removed overnight on the Friday.

That game kicked off with the ‘home’ team repaying their visitors’ hospitality by running up a 4-1 half-time scoreline.

Violet manager John Clifford said: “We were worthy winners and did all the damage in the first half with doubles from Zander McMillan and Gary McGrotty.

“We signed Alan Colquhoun from Kilsyth before the game, and he put in a phenomenal performance.”

Mark Daly scored Thorniewood’s first-half goal, Des Bradshaw netted their second and Daly grabbed another to set up a grandstand finish.

Thorniewood co-boss John Fallon said: “We were hit by two late call-offs from Stewart McCormack, with a torn hamstring, and Chris Queen, through a back injury.

“Defensively we were shocking — that’s basically it; but we hit the post and the bar, and Colquhoun made two cracking saves from Joe Tobin headers.”

Following their 3-2 home win over Neilston, Shotts’ assistant Willie Burns said: “I’ll take the result, but the performance wasn’t what I was looking for, especially as they were down to 10 men by half-time and then nine men after an hour.”

Mark McKeever scored five minutes after the break when a free-kick was caught up in the wind and floated over the keeper’s head.

Steve McGladrigan netted the second, and John Goodwin grabbed a third, which was probably the highlight of a turgid match.