Lanark United 1-0 Ardrossan Winton Rovers: Winning league start for United

Lanark started well with James Martin again working well on the left and in the fifth minute he put in a good cross that was just too high for Shug Kerr at the back post.This was the start of a good spell for Lanark and they won a corner in the next minute but from PJ O’Donnell’s delivery Mark Haddow saw a header go just wide.A minute later Lanark had a golden chance when Sean Lindsay set Kerr free on goal but after being clean through Kerr deliberated too much and a good challenge saw the chance disappear.In the next attack Lindsay himself cut in from the left but his parting shot was well wide.As expected Ardrossan put Lanark under a bit of pressure and this culminated with an effort from the left that Gareth Hallford turned away with a great save at the expense of a corner after 21 minutes.Lanark built their way back in to the match and on the half hour mark a crossfield ball from Cammy Lawson found Lindsay who laid the ball off to Josh Gracie and after cutting inside he put in a weak shot that was easily saved.The chance of the half came when what looked to have been a heavy cross from Lindsay found Dan Mchugh at the far edge of the box and after beating his man he laid the ball back to Jordan Fraser but his effort scraped the post as it went past.Lanark had a fantastic start to the second half when they won a penalty in the first minute. Greg Kane had sent a good ball to McHugh on the right and after getting into a scoring position he was brought down by the visiting keeper at the expense of a penalty.With the usual taker Lewis Hill watching from the sidelines Lindsay stepped up to the plate and despite the keeper going the right way the ball found the corner of the net for 1-0.This goal spurred on Ardrossan rather than the home side and they forced Lanark back with some good play but they never really caused a major problem to Hallford in the home goal.After weathering this period of pressure Lanark eventually got their act together and created a few chances of their own and after switching from left back Gracie set Kerr free on the right but his cutback found no takers.Gracie was again involved in the 72nd minute when an excellent drive down the right saw him get into the Ardrossan box but a fine challenge cleared the danger.There was little action from either side in the last few minutes to cause the respective keepers any problems and Lanark went on to cause the first upset of hopefully many as they recorded an excellent opening day three points.Lanark: Hallford, Harrison, Haddow, Lawson, Gracie, McHugh (Hamilton), Fraser, O’Donnell, Lindsay (Conlon), Martin(Kane), Kerr.