Kilbirnie Ladeside 5 Largs Thistle 0

It was a derby day to forget on Saturday as Thistle suffered their heaviest league defeat in over two years, leaving them cut adrift at the foot of the McBookie.com Premier Division.

Largs could have beaten Kilbirnie back in August in the Ardagh Cup after squandering some late opportunities, but the gulf has widened considerably since then, and it looks like Stuart Davidson and Kevin Struthers have a real job on their hands to lift Largs out of the doldrums.

Kilbirnie went on to win the Ardagh Cup earlier this month, and they started in dominant fashion at Valefield Park.

Largs lost possession as Green took quick advantage with a darting run down the right and cross to the near post for Ford to dispatch with glee on ten minutes.

There was justified anger on 16 minutes after a clear foul in the build-up from Kilbirnie, but neither the referee or his assistant chose to react, and Brannan raced on to smash the ball past the outrushing Ross Lundy for 2-0.

McTernan made it three for Ladeside as Largs defensively were at sixes and sevens.

Thistle were really up against it, with even James Marks coming back to defend from corners, and had a late opportunity in the first half with a turn and shot which was smothered by Hughes in the Kilbirnie goal.

Despite the deficit, Thistle came out after the interval trying to make some positive in-roads to the Kilbirnie goal, but instead, Ladeside made it four with the cruellest of blows.

When you are down, your luck is often out, and this was certainly the case as David Anderson's long range effort took a vicious deflection of a Thistle defender leaving Ross Lundy with no chance at all on 54 minutes.

Largs had two great opportunities to score with Morton on loan winger Alec McWatters somehow contriving to blast over from great positioning a few yards out, and then Marks' angled effort on the right went wide.

In the midst of all this, Lundy had to make some good stops including a great diving save from a stinging volley from Green on the edge of the area.

But Lundy could do nothing to stop McTernan as he unleashed another rasping drive for 5-0 as he managed to break through again.

Thistle brought on Larry McMahon and Glenn Thomson in a bid to try and get a consolation.

With five minutes of regulation time left, the Ladeside keeper made an excellent diving save to deny Thomson's rifled effort from the edge of the box.

It was a painful defeat for Largs against their derby rivals, and on this evidence, leaves Largs with a mammoth task now to survive in the Premier League.

Kilbirnie: Hughes, Gray, Gold, Donnelly, Haxton, Green, Brannan, Anderson, McTernan, Forde, McElroy. Subs: Rafferty, Meechen, Colvin, McKeown, Duncan.

Largs: Lundy, Gilbride, McMaster, Little, Jamieson, McWaters, Fleming, McDonald, Marks, Love, Bennett. Subs: Thomson, Loftus, McMahon, Ashe, Littler.

* Photos by John Keachie.