McBookie Ayrhire District League

LUGAR BOSWELL THSTLE 1

WHITLETTS VICTORIA 3

By Martin Rogan

VICS picked a vital win to keep their promotion hopes alive.

Referee Jordan Cousland was called in as a late replacement for Jim Burns and showed eight yellow cards.

However the home side felt felt he missed a key incident when Vics defender Raymond Buchanan appeared to kick out at Lugar's Ryan Connolly with the ball nowhere in sight. Both the Lugar assistant manager Scott Clelland and the home linesman were sent off as the official seemed to lose control of what was a fairly run-of-the-mill encounter.

The first half contained few other talking points. Whitletts striker Adam Forsyth missed a reasonable chance from a pass by Josh Sloan then, at the other end, David Jardine gave Jamie Conn an opportunity but the shot didn't really trouble former Lugar goalie Martyn Fraser.

Three minutes before the break the deadlock was broken when Blair Anderson moved the ball down the right to Adam Forsyth, whose low centre was slotted home by Graeme Barbour from close range.

The second half was marginally better than the first, although the ball still spent almost as much time airborne as it did on the ground. That suited Victoria's towering central defenders and Lugar made little impression on them. Ronnie Davis in the Lugar goal had a couple of decent saves to make - one from a Declan Milligan corner on the left that was met by the head of Jordan Mullen, and another when he rushed from his line to put in an exemplary tackle on Forsyth as he ran in on goal. The sum total of Lugar's efforts in this spell amounted to a cross from Connolly that found no takers and a lob from Jamie Montgomery that drifted over the bar.

In 64 minutes, however, the Bunnets drew level with a goal out of nowhere. Conn took the ball down the left and passed inside for Jardine to shoot past Fraser and tie the scores. Conn then set up Chris Vance as Lugar briefly looked like they might grab an unlikely win but the misfiring striker got no power in his shot.

Whitletts regained the lead in 71 minutes when Louis Kerr's pass found Barbour in the box and he beat Davis with a low shot to the corner of the net. Ten minutes from time Whitletts sealed the victory when a long free kick from Anderson out on the right was headed in by Barbour for his hat trick, giving the scoreline a more convincing look.

Prior to the game the referee had asked for directions to get to Glasgow after the match as his sat nav was not working. It is as well that he sought this advice early, as afterwards the home side might have taken revenge on him by pointing him in the direction of Dumfries.

LUGAR BOSWELL THISTLE: Davis; Montgomery, Lowe, Struthers, Crolley, Curtis, Connolly, Milligan, Vance, Jardine, Conn.

Substitutes : Ballantyne, Wales, Caldow, Waddell, Wallace.

WHITLETTS VICTORIA: Fraser, Anderson, Brown, Mullen, I.Kerr, Buchanan, L.Kerr, Sloan, Forsyth, Barbour, Milligan. Subs: Fisher, Boyd, Ogston, Howe, LT Kerr.-