Cairndelight inemphatic derbywin

Gartcairn assistant manager Scott Mills was delighted to see his side kick off their West of Scotland League campaign with an emphatic 6-1 win over Newmains.

Ross Mcneil, Kevin Ross, Liam Craig and Ben Cappie were all on target, adding to an Owen Ronald double, as the Airdrie club demonstrated their Conference B title credentials.

Mills said:“we had two really good sessions last week, working on the way we wanted to play this season, and Saturday’s result shows that the players are beginning to buy into that message.

“We played Kilsyth last week and got a good result and we’ve carried that into Saturday.

“I think the fifth goal from Ben {Cappie} shows exactly what we have been working on in training.”

There was considerable concern when striker Ronald was taken off with what looked like a serious injury in a pre-season friendly last week.

But the forward recovered and was fit enough to play in their league opener and bag two goals.

Mills said:“when Owen {Ronald} got injured last week we thought it was a really serious one.

“But it wasn’t as bad as we initially thought when the club physios had another look at it.

“He’s going to be a massive player for us this season and that was obvious to see with two fantastic goals on Saturday.”

Next up for Gartcairn is a home fixture against Carluke Rovers on Wednesday, followed by a blank weekend.

Mills is hoping the club can replicate a similar result to the last time the two sides faced off a few years ago in 2017, where Cairn ran out 3-2 winners.

He continued:“we’re expecting a really tough game.

“This is Carluke’s first game of the season so they will be full of enthusiasm and will have that first game of the season buzz that everyone else had on Saturday.

“We started our season well though and scored six goals away from home so our confidence is very high at the moment.”

Gartcairn travel to Royal Albert next Wednesday.