Skipper Liam leads thrilling revival
A five-star performance from East Kilbride under-20s on Friday night kept them in the hunt for the league title.
Despite falling behind, Kilby roared back to win with captain Liam Craig firing home an outstanding hat-trick, while Jack Harrison and Jack McMahon also found the net.
It leaves the Kilby kids three points off leaders Heriot Watt University with two games in hand.
Kilby started poorly and were punished after 10 minutes when Fabio Neto capitalised on indecision to race through and beat Craig Melrose.
It took Kilby a while to get into their rhythm and Gavin Millar was twice denied by the feet of McMahon in the Preston goal.
The equaliser eventually arrived midway through the first half when an excellent McMahon through ball found Craig and the man who never seems to miss found the corner of the net with a low finish.
Buoyed by the goal, EK became more dominant and made it 2-1 on 35 minutes. After Harrison had struck the bar with a header from a Craig corner, McMahon was on hand to head home the rebound on his 19th birthday.
Kilby got the killer third goal 15 minutes from time when Lewis Doherty threaded a perfect pass into the path of Craig, who ran through to slide the ball low into the net and make it 3-1.
Craig completed his hat-trick five minutes from time. Tough, Brodie and Millar’s pressing forced a mistake which allowed Craig to drive in from the right and he unleashed unstoppable shot high into the net.
It was left to defender Harrison to have the final say in 88 minutes when he arrowed a strike into the top corner.
The U20’s are in league action again this Friday night when BSC Glasgow visit K-Park.