Rovers top the table after seeing off county rivals

Oct 13 2011 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

CARLUKE Rovers grabbed a3-1 win over 10-man Lesmahagow to open up a three-point gap over their county rivals at the top of the Central League Second Division.

The match, taking advantage of the John Cumming Stadium’s 3G pitch, was the only Second Division fixture to survive Friday’s downpour.

’Gow have a game in hand as they bid to catch up with Rovers, but enjoy a six-point cushion over Forth Wanderers and St Roch’s in third and fourth place.

Rovers’ Darren Hamilton was quick off the mark to force a point-blank save from Kieran Muldoon inside the first minute.

Gow’s James Whyte and Rovers’ Mark Haddow sent efforts just wide, and Mark Weir somehow side-footed over from six yards out.

Lesmahagow had a great chance to open the scoring in 20 minutes when James Coffey was brought down, but Gavin McLachlan parried Darren Jaffrey’s penalty.

On 33 minutes Stewart Arnott cleverly turned the ball across the face of goal and Hamilton pounced to net the opener.

Weir’s in-swinging corner was then headed on by Craig Stark and finished well by the ever-alert Arnott to give Carluke a 2-0 interval lead.

Whyte rounded off a promising move to bring Lesmahagow into the game with a low drive in 57 minutes, as the referee played a good advantage despite Haddow lying injured on the ground.

Gow’s Nicky Sullivan was red-carded for a verbal outburst in 69 minutes when he swore at the Carluke official running the line because he hadn’t awarded a throw-in inches from the halfway line.

Rovers stretched their lead to 3-1 seven minutes later when Haddow provided a defence-splitting ball for Weir to fire low into the net.

Carluke boss Colin Slater said: “I was really pleased with the three points. I thought the first half was exceptional as we played Lesmahagow off the park.

“Gavin McLachlan had a great penalty save when he parried the kick and the boys did well to back him up.

“We missed a few chances but we’re still creating and scored three.

“We’re trying out a new corner set-piece to maximise the height of Mark Haddow, Craig Stark and Davie Gray – and it seems to be working.”

Lesmahagow manager Robert Irving said: “I’m disappointed to say the least. In the first half we didn’t play at all. You can’t miss penalties and expect to win games.

“To be honest I blame myself as I should maybe have freshened the team up a wee bit.

“Performance levels were not what I was expecting. I could see some players just falling into a comfort zone during the past couple of weeks.

“At times we need to defend better – being undefeated in five games, teams want to beat us.

“Carluke did that and maybe we need to take a step sideways to take two steps forward.”

On midfielder Sullivan’s dismissal, Irving said: “I can’t defend him. He was lucky over a similar outburst last season.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a referee or a linesman, you can’t speak to them like that.”

• Wishaw’s re-arranged home game with Maryhill was called off, as players wanted to show a mark of respect in memory of midfielder Martin Devlin, whose mother’s funeral took place on Saturday morning.