Carluke Rovers 3-0 Bellshill Athletic: Bellshill still top despite defeat

Bellshill suffered a blow pre-match when Callum Nolan was ruled out of the line-up.

Within a minute the home team took the lead when a missed chance to clear fell too Grierson who slotted the ball into the corner of the net.

Worse followed just three minutes later when the home team doubled their lead, Ciaran Lafferty scoring from a suspiciously offside looking position.

Bellshill hit back with a Jamie Stewart shot which clipped the bar and went to safety in the 12th minute.

Just a minute later they had a claim for handball waved away after a great Nichol corner.

McGuire was next to have a go but the home keeper kept the shot out.

Scott and then Febers both had great runs and shots which were well saved before the home team should have increased their lead in the 27th minute but the shot went high and wide from close in.

Nichol and Gilchrist then had good efforts well saved before Carluke scored a sucker punch third on the 37th minute when great play saw Lafferty curl a beautiful shot into the top corner leaving McDougall helpless.

Another blow for Bellshill in the second half saw Febers look to catch his studs on the surface and go down with what looked like a serious knee injury. There was a delay of seven minutes before Ridge replaced the injured Febers.

Bellshill’s Burns shot just over from 22 yards before McGuire played in Liam Scott whose effort was smothered by the advancing keeper.

The visitors’ Johnston shot high over the bar before a great Gilchrist corner found Ridge who headed over the bar when it looked easier to score. Johnston then had a good run and shot saved in the 88th minute.

Bellshill will need to regroup for their trip to Port Glasgow in the league this Saturday, kick-off 2pm.

Team: McDougall, Young, Jeffrey, Simon, Brown, Febers, Gilchrist, Stewart, McGuire, Nichol, Scott. Subs: Burns, Ridge, Johnston, Houston, MacIntyre.