Arthurlie in seventh heaven

Jan 26 2010 by Paul Behan, Paisley Daily Express

ARTHURLIE..................... 7 PETERSHILL................... 0

ARTHURLIE manager Mark Cameron hailed his Dunterlie dazzlers for their demolition job over Petershill – and then urged them to show more consistency.

‘Branco’ was delighted to see the Barrhead side fire a magnificent seven past the Peasies.

But after the game he admitted he’d love to see that type of display from his team every week.

He said: “I’m delighted to get the points on the board.

“I’m always saying to the boys that when you are competing for major trophies, then you need to have a bit of consistency in your play and in the last couple of years we’ve not been like that.

“We’ve been known as a good cup team and a club that has done well in the regional cup competitions but we’ve not been able to translate that into our league form.

“But we’ll just get our heads down and work away to get that consistency into the team.”

This was an easy three points for Arthurlie to help them stay fourth in the Superleague Premier table against a very disappointing Petershill side that were reduced to only eight men after only an hour.

The Barrhead men started brightly and took the lead after only five minutes when Joe Andrew won a penalty following a foul committed close to the goal-line, which he calmly converted himself past 17-year-old keeper Ryan Scully, who was making his debut on loan from Partick Thistle.

The visitors were clearly struggling and offered their only real goal threat when Paul McBride found space on the edge of the box to turn and shoot with Neil Parry alert to deny his former club any comeback into the match.

The Peasies survived another penalty shout before Scully did well to deny rampant Arthurlie on three occasions with Sean Winter in particular on scintillating form, before Andrew beat two men and his shot clipped the underside of the crossbar allowing Craig Malcolm an easy tap-in for the second goal.

Malcolm was making life difficult for much-travelled stopper Ryan Jordan, who received his second yellow card on the half hour mark with Frank McKeown scoring directly from the resulting free-kick.

A foul by James McKinstry two minutes later produced a straight red card as he fouled the last man, with John McLay hitting the fourth goal from this free-kick.

Early in the second period Stephen Gallagher produced a good right flank run and his low cross was turned in by Malcolm for his second goal.

On the hour mark Michael Keenan became the visitors third dismissal for a second yellow card.

Both ’Lie substitutes then added the final goals with Stephen Anderson supplying a killer header from Winter’s right wing cross and minutes later Anderson turned supplier by fighting to win a lost ball down the right flank to supply a great cross for Steven Bonar to dispatch a similar headed finish.

In truth the second period was effectively a training exercise with Peasies reduced numbers but the confidence gained will bode well for the vital matches coming up in league and four cups.

Cameron added: “Credit to the boys because they really surprised me – and their opponents – by the way they started.

“They were on fire and we could have scored more because I felt there were a couple of stonewall penalty claims that we didn’t get.

“And for the two substitutes to come on and score will have done no harm to their chances ahead of this weekend’s game.”

This Saturday Arthurlie travel east to Fife to face Cowdenbeath-based Hill of Beath Hawthorn for their Fourth Round Scottish Junior Cup tie.

Kick-off time is 1.45pm.