Poor weather forced a wipeout of Saturday’s fixtures... and they’ve been moved to this weekend.

Feb 25 2010 by kbarrSUN, Hamilton Advertiser

SATURDAY’S entire juniors card was wiped out by harsh winter weather on Saturday but has now simply been rescheduled for this weekend.

That means Lanark United and Bellshill Athletic will make their third attempt in as many weeks to play their Super Premier League fixture at Moor Park.

Weather-enforced delays have not detracted from the importance of a game between two sides who, on their day, can often produce open, entertaining and goal-scoring displays – especially when there is something at stake.

Lanark are more comfortably poised going into the country crunch as they nestle in sixth position, three points ahead of the play-off zone but with more games played than rivals Irvine Meadow and Kilbirnie Ladeside.

Bellshill, meanwhile, languish in second-bottom spot with only nine points from 14 games, and have played at least four more than their rivals – which makes this a must-win as they bid to beat the drop.

Lanark have demonstrated a much better all-round attitude since the mid-season managerial recall of Tam McDonald, who kicked off the season in charge of Saturday’s opponents before being sacked in August.

McDonald has revamped the Lanark line-up and continued that as former Bellshill and Larkhall Thistle defender Rab Coulter left.

Steve Wishart, Darren Jaffrey and Mark Haddow are also poised to leave.

Meanwhile goalkeeper Alan Creer is off to America this week, hoping to play a trial for Seattle.

McDonald said: “With all these moves we’re down to a squad of 15 so I’m talking to a few players – but so far that’s as far as it has gone.”

Craig Rowan, a former team-mate of Bellshill manager Danny Drew during their title-winning sequence a few years ago, will keep the goalkeeper’s jersey after coming back into the side in place of Creer.

Lanark lined up against Larkhall in a bounce game at the Soccerworld indoor centre at Easterhouse, winning 2-1 with goals from Tommy Franch and a Kevin Carson own goal.

Davie Carr netted for the Jags.

Bellshill also played a friendly on their 3G West End pitch, convincingly beating Wishaw 5-0 as they sharpened their reflexes.

Manager Danny Drew said: “It was a hastily-arranged friendly – we spoke with manager Alex Young at Wishaw because we knew they had no scheduled fixture for Saturday.

“As it happened, with a blank card across the West Region, we could have had our choice of opponents but it was a worthwhile exercise and some useful game time for our players.”

Gary Fleming scored two, with singles from Brendan Crozier, Stewart Livingstone and Nicky Paterson.

Drew added: “It was good to welcome back to Bellshill former Bolton Wanderers and Ayr United player Kieran McAnespie, who left the club to work in London.

“We are going to be out of West End Park for the next two weeks while North Lanarkshire Council relays the turf, but we have arranged for training facilities at the Scottish National Indoor Sports Centre at Toryglen, near Hampden.”