Lanark enjoy victory against Bellshill Athletic

Oct 15 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

THE first all-county Super Premier League clash on Bellshill Athletic’s artificial surface produced a 10-goal spree as Lanark United triumphed 6-4, for their first win of the season.

A whirlwind start saw former Accies winger David Dimilta put the hosts ahead after 45 seconds.

But within two minutes Davie Gray headed the equaliser from a Darren Jaffrey free-kick.

Davie McGuire then floated over a Jaffrey pass for former Berwick full-back Tommy Lennox to put United 2-1 in front after 21 minutes, but right-back David Feeney hauled Bellshill level as he steered in a Gary Fleming cross.

Alan Creer had two good saves before Tommy Franch ended a surging run by blasting in a powerful drive to put United 3-2 in front after 36 minutes.

Four minutes before the break McGuire produced a contender for goal of the season, with a clever chip from the edge of the box that left Ally Nugent helpless.

And in 49 minutes Jaffrey superbly guided a 30-yard free-kick into the top corner to put Lanark 5-2 in front.

Stuart Tullis and Gary Fleming bagged goals inside a three-minute spell to pull Bellshill back into the game at 5-4.

Bellshill nearly levelled when Dimilta produced a lung-bursting 40-yard run, but saw his 20-yard shot slip inches past the far post.

And Lanark made them pay for that as Mark Haddow headed in an Andy Harrison cross to round off the score at 6-4 with 12 minutes left.

Lanark manager Duncan Sinclair said after the game: “It certainly wasn’t a game for the purists, but we got our first victory – and got that monkey off our backs.

“It was always going to be a tough game. We had to contend with a difficult surface and Bellshill are not as bad a team as their league position suggests.”

Sinclair added: “It was good to see the goals spread throughout the team, and they did well to come back after losing such an early goal.

“We tried to get the ball down and played well in parts, but we’ve got to work on things defensively.

“Jaffrey produced a great free-kick but what can you say about McGuire’s goal? That’s not something you can coach into somebody – that’s instinctive.”

Bellshill boss Danny Drew said: “I don’t like slating players but I felt they were so naive. I’ve told them for weeks to defend.

“I also felt Lanark didn’t have to work hard for their goals – we let them walk through us.

“I told them in the second half that I didn’t think the game was beyond us, that we could still rescue something, but we lost bad goals through poor defending.

“It’s back to the drawing board again. We’re still trying to bring in some quality players because we need to stay up.

“We’ve lost some ground in the league and need to battle back. There’s still a lot of work to do.”