Goal glut sees Glens through
Boss Harvey asks for more
Willie Harvey admitted he was “not entirely happy” with Glencairn’s performance on Saturday, despite his side cruising to a 6-0 win over East Kilbride Thistle.
The Celsius Stadium boss watched on as his team topped group four of the Central Sectional League Cup and qualified for the quarter- finals of the competition for the first time in four years.
The Glens went into the match level with Cambuslang Rangers on points, goal difference and goals scored, so it was a straight shootout to see who could get the better result on the day in their respective home matches.
A brace each for Jay McKay, Jordan Marshall and Fraser Team put the game beyond Thistle and manager Harvey explained the high standards he expects of his team with his assessment after the match.
He said: “It’s good to get through, and we look forward to a big game and hopefully a big crowd here on Wednesday night.
“I wasn’t entirely happy with the performance, though – we should have scored more goals and we still made too many silly mistakes. But it’s hard to grumble with 6-0 and we top the group.”
Harvey once again rotated the squad and made six changes to the starting team from Wednesday night’s 2-1 away win at Blantyre.
With one eye on events along the road at Cambuslang, The Glens came storming out of the traps and had put the game beyond Thistle within 15 minutes.
Chris Treacy was left helpless in the seventh minute as McNab’s cross from the right found Jamie Hamilton at the back post. He skipped past his marker before pulling the ball back into the path of Jordan Marshall who drilled the ball into the net from eight yards out.
The lead was doubled in the 10th minute when Jay McKay sprung the offside trap to score from a tight angle.
Glencairn were cutting Thistle open at will and the game looked to be over as a contest when the lead was increased to 3-0.
McNab broke free on the right and he squared the ball across goal into the path of Fraser Team who did just enough to force it over the line from close range.
Word had filtered through that Cambuslang were two goals ahead, so with only one goal between the teams there was still work to be done to secure qualification.
The Glens seemed out of sight just before half-time when a ball up to McKay saw him spin away from his marker and run through on goal. Treacy blocked the initial shot but couldn’t hold it and it dropped in behind him. Jay McKay was the winner in the race to the loose ball and he fired it into the empty net to make it 4-0.
The Glens took only five minutes to increase their lead in the second half through a Jordan Marshall header.
Almost straight from the restart The Glens got the ball back, and 30 seconds later it was 6-0. Hamilton ran at the heart of the defence before slipping a pass to Fraser Team, and his firm shot took a slight deflection as it fizzed past Treacy and into the net off the underside of the crossbar.
The Glens were presented at the end of the match with the Centenary Cup, a trophy donated to the club by lifelong member Hamish Allan to mark their centenary year in 1996.
It is played for each year in the first match of the season between Glencairn and Thistle.
Harvey’s men will now look forward to a quarter-final match at home to Pollok tonight, Wednesday.