Carluke extend lead at top of league

Oct 27 2011 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

CARLUKE Rovers dumped Newmains United 3-1 to open up a six-point cushion at the top of the Central League Second Division.

Due to a mixture of defeats and call-offs, Rovers were one of only two teams in the top eight to tuck away points from the curtailed weekend card.

Rovers struggled against the wind in the first half and Newmains took the lead around the 20-minute mark, with Stewart Arnott equalising before the break.

Rovers upped their game after the restart and within 90 seconds Mark Weir had set up Darren Hamilton to make it 2-1.

And midway through the half Hamilton notched his own second to make sure of the three points.

STONEHOUSE Violet broke their league duck when a new-look side showing seven changes beat St Roch’s 4-3 at Tilework Park.

Manager John Doyle, after only his third game in charge, said: “I brought in six new signings and it took some time for the new players to get to know each other, but I was pleased with the second-half performance.”

Saints opened the scoring but Greg Cavanagh equalised from a Craig Munro assist, only for the visitors to score another twice from set-pieces.

Alan Wilson, a new signing from Ashfield Victoria, pulled a goal back, Smart Osadolor equalised, Wilson notched his second to make it 4-3 – and then all hell broke out!

Goalkeeper Graham Williams, signed from Ashfield Victoria, went down for a ball and was kicked as he lay on the ground – but when the shot-stopper retaliated he was sent off.

Five minutes later Stewart Cairns stepped in to try and break up another punch-up, and was sent off for his efforts as he tried to push away one of the ‘Rock’ players.

Manager Doyle said: “I’ve got no complaints about the Williams red-card, but the referee didn’t see the original incident, which meant no action was taken against the offending St Roch’s player.

“I thought the red card for Cairns was a bit harsh – he was only trying to be a peacemaker in the stramash.”

BLANTYRE Vics’ promotion hopes suffered a blow when they went down 4-0 at Maryhill.

Manager Alan Shields said: “It was a freak result. We started off fairly comfortably and then Maryhill had a player sent off – unfairly I thought – but that galvanised them into action on a day when their scoring efforts went in and ours didn’t.

“It was a bad day for us, but I thought we had sterling performances in defence from Paul Gray, Paul Mulholland and Gerry Bonham, with Mark Batchelor outstanding as he makes his way back after nearly a year out through injury.”