Largs Thistle will be hoping it is a case of 'Like Father, Like Son' after the Barrfields club netted Robert Love from Auchinleck Talbot this season.

Striker Robert is hopefully a chip off his old block like his dad Derek who was a great goalscorer for Largs during the early 'noughties'.

Derek was also a Scottish Cup winner with Cumnock, and played for many years at Beith, before finishing his career at Barrfields under Frank Lovering and George Wall where he enjoyed promotion and a league title victory.

Happy days indeed, and Largs are now back in the Premier Division, with Robert Love scoring a spectacular goal against Rob Roy recently, and Thistle fans will be hoping that he can replicate his father's goalscoring sprees of 15 years ago.

The 27 year old said: "It has been good at Largs - I was at Auchinleck last year but didn't feature as much as I would like, and I got out of my contract when I asked to be released. A few clubs were interested in me but Bryan and Arnie convinced me

"Hopefully our results will pick up as we have had a few disappointments. Our performances against Rob Roy and Hurlford were pretty good except for a few lapses in concentration."

Robert remembers seeing his dad play for Largs as a youngster, and said: "He reminds me of his playing career often. I have played senior with Stranraer, Ayr United, Albion Rovers and Stenhousemuir. It was good and I really enjoyed getting promoted with Albion and Stenhousemuir."

"Bryan Slavin and Arnie are big names in the juniors, having played with Talbot, and won lots of medals. They have instilled a work rate and hopefully we can continue to make it difficult for other teams."

Derek said: "I was at Cumnock at the start of my junior career - and there were some big names at the club who had been there for quite a few years, so it was a great achievement to win the Scottish Cup in my first season. Manager Dennis Gray moved to Beith and I went with him, and we beat extra time in the Scottish Cup semis against Glenafton, and we won all the local cups year on year.

Frank Lovering took over at Largs, and I moved to Barrfields and played with some experienced players including Stephen Quigg, and Michael Hart who was a kid at the time.

"We got to Shettleston in the quarters of the Scottish Cup in 2002, and Tommy Coyne, a former Republic of Ireland internationalist, scored, so we were up against some top players."

Derek's other son Alistair plays for Brechin, and he switches between going to see Largs and Brechin every Saturday.

Derek added: "It is a difficult league that Largs are now in. I still enjoying going to watch the junior football, and I helped as assistant manager at Cumnock

Largs will find it difficult to compete as I know what the top teams are paying and the budgets involved. The most important thing was Largs getting promoted and getting to this level, and hopefully they can build on this, but they need to start defending better, and scoring more goals."