East Kilbride bounced back from the heavy midweek defeat to pick up an impressive 4-2 win over Blantyre Victoria.
After the 6-0 defeat in midweek to Rutherglen Glencairn, Thistle picked up the first win of their Sectional League Campaign over Blantyre Victoria at the Show Park.
Thistle started the better side and in the opening minutes tested the Blantyre keeper. Gordon Douches’ shot was saved by the keeper and Aaron Connolly pounced on the rebound however his shot hit the side netting. Less than a minute later Thistle were in the lead. Aaron Connolly made no mistake with his second chance of the game as he slotted past the keeper to give Thistle the lead.
Thistle continued to push and Douches’ thought he had doubled the lead when he chipped Mcintosh in the Blantyre goal however his chip landed just wide of the post. Blantyre couldn’t handle the pressure and were nearly two down when Liam Sloan’s dangerous cross found Gerry Craig in space in the box and his shot looked to be going in however Mcintosh managed to tip the ball wide.
After twenty one minutes it was 2-0. Thistle’s pressure paid off as Connolly managed to nick the ball in the Blantyre box and he fired the ball off the post and in to double Thistle’s lead.
Going two goals down seemed to wake up Blantyre and Greg Coyle was found in space in the Blantyre box however he fired his shot over the bar from close range. Coyle made no mistake with his next chance as he latched on to a Jordan Dow cut back to pull a goal back for Blantyre.
The fight back did not last long as with five minutes in the first half to go it was 3-1. A corner was cleared by Blantyre but only as far as Connolly who fired an unstoppable shot into the net to seal a fantastic first half hat trick.
The second half was a tenser affair as both teams cancelled out each others attacks however with three minutes to go Thistle managed get a chance to kill the game off when they were awarded a penalty. Blantyre goalkeeper Mcintosh took down Douches in the box and douches made no mistake with the penalty to make it 4-1. Blantyre did manage to score a consolation goal through William Holms late on however by then it was too little too late as Thistle held on to win their first game of the season.
East Kilbride Thistle Line-up: McGuinness, Kelsall, Gillies, Borg, McAneny, Connolly, McRobert, Stewart (Scott 59,) Douches, Sloan (Emslie 78,) Craig (Buchanan 68.)
Subs not used: McQueenie, Martin
Goals: Connolly(8,21,40,) Douches (87)
