NO.1 FOR JUNIORS POLLOK 1 AUCHINLECK TALBOT 2
JUNIOR whistler David Dickinson was in Tony McInally’s sights when the Pollok boss let loose with both barrels in the wake of his side’s 2-1 Super Premier Division defeat at home to Auchinleck Talbot on Saturday.
It’s no exaggeration to say the Lok boss was livid in the aftermath of a Newlandsfield contest whose many talking points included the second-half dismissals of two Pollok players – Stefan McCluskey letting his team-mates down by twice picking up yellow cards for verbals towards the referee prior to a lunging Gary McCann tackle earning the winger his marching orders.
Macca blasted: “Too many of my players did not perform anywhere near their capabilities and we cannot expect to come out on top against the likes of Auchinleck with only half a team turning up.
“It’s simply not good enough and I’ve not held back from letting the players know my feelings, but in their defence I would say a near constant stream of refereeing decisions going against us contributed to our performance.
“I cannot help but think the referee’s take on things has hugely influenced our defeat.
“Not for one minute am I blaming him for Stefan’s ordering off because the truth is a player of his experience should know better than to be sent off for dissent, but was it a case that he was nursing a deep sense of injustice?
“My players had to contend with a first-half penalty kick awarded to Auchinleck which was soft in the extreme and arguably not even a foul, yet David Gormley has been bundled over for a stonewaller in the second half and the ref has waved play on.
“Players cannot help but be affected by things like that and Mr Dickinson has put the seal on his display with Gary McCann’s dismissal.”
A typically tigerish start by Auchinleck saw the visitors gain the upper hand in front of a near 800-strong crowd and payback came from the penalty spot just 12 minutes in after Jamie Glasgow went down in a tangle of legs with Lok’s teenage defender Senna allowing Stevie Wilson to fire the Ayrshiremen in front.
This advantage was doubled on the half-hour mark when the lively Mark Shankland went past Senna whose holding back from making a challenge proved fatal as Shankers hammered a low left-foot drive beyond goalkeeper Jordan Longmuir.
Soon after McCluskey’s red, Lok’s 10 men became nine but Adam Forde wheeled to fire a low shot into the far corner of the net and put a better complexion on the scoreline.
AUCHINLECK’S outstanding full-back Willie Lyle said: “It was a great result to get through here and when you think of the scoring chances we missed at 2-0 then it could have been even more convincing.”
In the only other top-flight game taking place, Cumnock continued their climb away from the Super Premier base- ment with a stirring 3-1 comeback triumph over near neighbours Glenafton who briefly led through Chris Dallas only for Kier Samson to firstly level matters before second half scores by Jamie Ballantyne and Paul Burns (pen) clinched a welcome three-point haul for the home side.
Meanwhile, there was a mixed bag of results for West Region clubs in the Scottish Junior Cup fourth-round ties with Kilsyth Rangers and Rutherglen Glencairn suffering exits at home to East Region opponents while Central Sec- ond Division outfit Gartcairn were another faller after losing 2-1 in their replay away to Arthurlie for whom Michael Daly and Marc McKenzie were on target.
Hurlford United saw off Haddington Athletic 3-0 at Blair Park thanks to scores from Calum Watt, Alan Jenkins and Mark Roberts however Kilbirnie Ladeside experienced a considerably more testing passage against Forfar West End who were 1-0 to the good at Valefield through a Jamie Montgomery strike only for a brace of Jon Scullion goals to secure a 2-1 victory for the Blasties.
And there was a bit of a fright for high flying Beith away to Jeanfield Swifts after the hosts staged a recovery from falling 2-0 behind to early Kier Milliken and Thomas Collins scores to level matters at 2-2 .
But the Ayrshiremen were only temporarily knocked out of their stride and further goals arrived from Collins, Joe Bradley, John Sheridan and comeback ace Andy Reid to confirm their superiority.