Liam arrives with a bang
New striker hits double in first win for Glens
Willie Harvey could not fault the performances of Glencairn’s latest signings who made their competitive debuts in the club’s first league win of the season.
It did not take striker Liam Gormley long to bag his first goals in a Glens shirt after making the switch from rivals Cambuslang Rangers less than 24 hours previously.
There was only 12 minutes on the clock when the 24-year-old rolled in his first before netting his second six minutes later to heap pressure on Kilsyth who also tried to sign him.
And while Jay McKay’s effort and a double from Jamie Hamilton rounded off an enjoyable afternoon for the hosts, another new face, exCambuslang man Jordan Leyden, also got off to a flyer for the Rutherglen club.
Manager Harvey said: “We knew what we were getting when we signed Liam. We were lacking that cutting edge and missing chances.
“He did well with his two goals and could have had a few more after their goalkeeper made a great save, and then Liam had another chance with his overhead kick in the first half.
“We had tried a couple of times to get him – first when he left Kilbirnie and then when he left East Kilbride in the Lowland League to go to Cambuslang,
“But we always seemed to be just that one phone call behind.
“I knew Kilsyth were in for him but the deal wasn’t over the line so we acted quickly and I’m delighted we managed to get him. He’ll bring
goals, he links up well with players and has senior experience so he is the full package.
“We also brought in Jordan Leyden who was named man of the match and I could not fault his performance.
“He was injured for most of last season and didn’t sign again with Cambuslang, so considering how long he has been out of football, he was excellent on the ball. His touch was good and so was his passing.
“We had to bring him straight in because of Tony Fraser’s calf problem and kept him on to get him game time.”
Gormley opened the scoring after defender Craig McGregor picked out McKay who flicked the ball first time in behind the defence for his strike partner to roll it past the keeper.
Kilsyth missed a chance to equalise with a header that went over the bar from a corner before Gormley scored again on 18 minutes. A pass over the defence by Andy Neil picked out the willing run of the striker who won the battle for the ball with goalkeeper David Kane and walked it into the net.
Glens were bossing the game and made their pressure count on 31 minutes as Hamilton volleyed the ball home from the edge of the penalty area after Ryan McArdle’s corner was cleared.
Leyden stung the palms of Kane with a rasping shot just before Kilsyth pulled a goal back in the 66th minute through Andy McLaughlin.
But The Glens soon restored their three-goal lead as McKay tapped the ball in on 77 minutes and Hamilton’s impressive skill led to him finding the net three minutes from full-time .
Harvey joked: “I couldn’t have asked for a better result but I suppose I could have asked for 5-0. The only disappointing thing was the goal we lost and we didn’t keep the clean sheet because we haven’t got one so far. It takes us off the bottom and up five places.
“I was never panicking anyway and I am all too happy for people to be writing us off at the start of the season. The same happened last season and we just missed out by four points on getting promoted.
“We don’t want to put in a good performance and then let ourselves down at Larkhall on Saturday.
“I know that if teams at the top drop points and we pick up another few we will be right on their tails.”