Nine-goal Lesmahagow discover League Cup final will be played at Pollok

Lesmahagow Juniors continued their impressive start to the season with a 9-0 Craighead Park destruction of Newmains United on Saturday, writes Craig Goldthorp.
By The Newsroom
Published 13th Sep 2018, 12:27 BST
Updated 13th Sep 2018, 12:35 BST
Lesmahagow players celebrate 2017 Clydesdale Cup win. They'll have more chance for trophy success in next month's Sectional League Cup final against Auchinleck Talbot.Lesmahagow players celebrate 2017 Clydesdale Cup win. They'll have more chance for trophy success in next month's Sectional League Cup final against Auchinleck Talbot.
Lesmahagow players celebrate 2017 Clydesdale Cup win. They'll have more chance for trophy success in next month's Sectional League Cup final against Auchinleck Talbot.

’Gow – who this week found out that the Sectional League Cup final against Auchinleck Talbot will be played at Pollok's Newlandsfield Park on October 14 – romped home with goals by Jonny McStay (4), Paul Woodlock (2), Gary Nicholson, Matty Clarke and Jordan Lithgow.Delighted Lesmahagow manager Robert Irving told the Carluke and Lanark Gazette: “A comfortable win like that has been coming.“We have been creating chance after chance in recent weeks without taking them.“It was 6-0 before Newmains had two men sent off, but to score nine goals against anybody shows we are doing something right.“It will not happen every week.”Robert said that Newmains had “lost the plot” after going six down, with Paul Donachy and player/manager Craig Gupwell being sent off for second bookings after poor challenges on Neil Schoneville and Paul Woodlock respectively.The latest win moves Lesmahagow up to fourth place in the table, just a point off the promotion places ahead of this Saturday’s trip to third placed Vale of Leven, kick-off 2pm.Despite the Sectional League Cup final being just over a month away, Robert insisted that the big game won’t distract his troops from the job in hand over the coming weeks.“There is no chance of them taking their eyes off the ball,” Robert said.“They have been warned. We have big league games and a Scottish Junior Cup tie coming up.“The cup final is the furthest thing from our minds just now.”When next month’s final against Auchinleck comes around, Lesmahagow will be going for their first major cup win since beating Petershill in the 1994 League Cup final at Kilbowie Park, a match Robert played in.Goals by Colin Crichton and Willie Gillogley sealed ’Gow’s success 24 years ago and Irving insists that it would mean every bit as much for the club to win again on this occasion.“It is still a big thing to win a cup in junior football,” he added.“To win you probably have to beat teams that are better than you.“And Auchinleck is the team you would pick to face in a cup final.“You can’t do more than play the best junior team in Scotland.”