Lesmahagow return to Central League after dismal season

May 21 2008

LESMAHAGOW were officially relegated at the weekend, ending their first Super First Division season on a dismal note as they crashed back into the Central League.

The soggy condition of Craighead Park hardly helped their progress, forcing several games to be postponed due to flooding.

This led to a hefty backlog which, at the business end of the season, led to a spate of midweek games when several key players were unavailable due to work commitments.

But ‘Gow’s faltering form, allied to a lengthy injury list at times, led to their own downfall as they only managed to clock up one league win this year.

Apart from the 2-1 win over Kilbirnie two weeks ago, one would have to scroll back to November to trace a previous league win — a 4-2 win over Renfrew.

The final blow came with a double whammy with the 3-2 defeat by Troon on Saturday and the 4-1 home defeat by Clydebank on Monday.

Assistant boss Robert Irving said after Monday night’s collapse: “The loss of 20 goals in our last six games speaks for itself. That’s relegation form.

“On Saturday, Stevie Cunningham scored after about 10 minutes and we seemed to be doing fine but a lapse in concentration and we were in 2-1 down at half-time.

“Barry Murdoch scored a second half equaliser, but Joe Doyle was caught in possession near the box and they scored.

“On Monday, John Savage scored a great goal after eight minutes. We were playing well but we switched off and lost three goals in four minutes.”

He added: “The injury situation and work commitments has been so bad that I can’t remember when we managed to field the same team twice but the bottom line is that we’re giving away far too many goals.”