Bellshill Athletic 1 Largs Thistle 2

Largs Thistle produced a gritty performance at Bellshill on Saturday to gain a crucial league win despite difficult conditions, writes Jim Laing.
A blustery wind and an uneven surface combined to make it almost impossible to play good football.
The home team settled first, and Ross Lundy blocked an early shot with his chest before the danger was cleared.
It was on 34 minutes that Thistle made the breakthrough as Larry McMahon sent a good pass down the right channel for Marks who outpaced two defenders before hitting a hard low cross from the byeline, which Kevin Struthers gleefully struck home at the opposite post.
On 55 minutes, a deep cross into the box was missed by the Largs defence and found a Bellshill centre forward and his crisp low shot was brilliantly parried out for a corner kick by Lundy. From that resultant set-piece, the ball was adjudged to have hit Slavin's hand and Bellshill converted from the spot thanks to Brophy.
However, Thistle's persistence paid off with five minutes left on the stopwatch as Gary Fleming picked the ball up 25 yards out from goal, and ex-Aberdeen keeper Peat dived to block the effort, and Marks was quickest to react and hit the rebound low into the net to make it 2-1.

At this stage, the most important thing was getting a winning result, as challengers Kilwinning and Clydebank both had to settle for away draws. Job done.

Largs: Lundy, McMahon, Phillip, Slavin, Gilbride, Jamieson, Muir,  Fleming, Marks, Struthers, McDonald. Subs: Struthers, Santos, Little, Murray, Craig