Losing Count

Come the end of their Saturday afternoons work Dalry Thistle will have been wishing they hadn't overcome Lugar Boswell Thistle on penalties in the previous round as they were ran ragged in the heat by Pollok at Newlandsfield. The 'Lok had more players watching on in the terraces than available for selection, a trialist started along with another three on the bench who all got run-outs. A good crowd was present as many punters, myself included, were trying to ensure their close-season was as short as possible.

Chris 'the goal machine' Cruickshank, a bit of tongue in cheek there, continued where he left off and was proving to be a real nuisance in the air. He was on a hat-trick after two headed goals in the first period, and even hit the bar with another headed effort at the beginning of the second-half before resorting back to a more familiar defensive role. It was one way traffic as the Ayrshire League champions seemed well off the pace. The Dalry manager seemed more determined to prevent top scorer Dingwall from getting chances that he forgot about the other threats that the 'Lok possessed.

Two early goals in the second-half from Essler and Wingate ended the contest and the trialists came on to give Pollok a new look midfield. The right sided one crossed for the left sided one to score with their first involvement, then they swapped roles with the latter providing the assist for the former. It was a sunny Saturday stroll and Dalry where all over the place, but at least they hadn't let Dingwall score yet, despite his best efforts to steal one of the trialists goals.

Disaster struck again as Dalry added to the 'Lok's tally with a lobbed own-goal. Then at long last the Pollok hit-man got his goal after Essler placed a pass off the crossbar straight to Dingwall to volley home and complete the rout.

Pollok now march on to the season finale, the Evening Times Cup final, where they'll play either Blantyre Victoria or Irvine Meadow who play on Monday evening.

Full Time – Pollok 8-0 Dalry Thistle

Below are youtube highlights of the demolition of Dalry, credit to lokpars. Also credit to codofthenorth for the photo.

Cruickshank's first-half double
Second-half goals
Missed chances

Next up for me will be a Monday evening fixture, not Blantyre hosting Meadow, but I'll make the trip to Neilston's Brig O'Lea ground as the play hosts to Auchinleck Talbot in the last Super Premier League game of the season.