Largs Thistle U16s 5 Caledonian 1
Largs Thistles 16’s made it five wins on the spin with a good victory over Caledonian in the drizzle at Barrfields.
The young bucks rained supreme as they hit a fantastic five goals to overcome the opposition.
David Griffins opened the scoring inside the first two minutes when he latched on to a long clearance from keeper Cammy McDermid, outpaced the Caledonian central defender, and although the goalkeeper saved his initial shot, Griffins followed up to net the rebound.
Griffins added his and Thistle’s second when again he outpaced the Caledonian defence and slotted home a Reece Allen through ball following a slick counter attack down the Thistle left.
Caledonian could find no answer to the pace and determination of Griffins and he looked set to complete a first half hat trick, only to be brought down as he burst into the penalty box. No penalty was given and to add injury to insult Griffins landed heavily on his shoulder and had to be withdrawn.
Largs went further ahead when Allen, who had taken over at centre forward, played a one two with Ben Riley before slipping the ball into the path of Robert Jack, for the winger to apply a composed finish.
Allen added a fourth when he got on the end of another McDermid long pass and slid the ball through the advancing goalkeeper’s legs.
This meant that Thistle went in 4-0 up at half time.
The second half was mainly scrappy with chances being few and far between until Jordan Mauchlen added a fifth for Largs when he cut in from the left side of the park and curled a right foot shot into the far corner of the net.
Caledonian scored a consolation goal in injury time when they took advantage of centre back Cameron Florence being down injured up field, to force the ball home from close range.
Despite the high-scoring win, manager Ally Burns gave an understated response, and said: “It wasn’t the most fluent performance in recent weeks but a good three points all the same.”
There is no doubting that Thistle U16s are hitting form at the right time, and are on a good winning streak of results at the moment.
However, everyone knows Auchinleck’s reputation in the Ayrshire football scene, but if Largs can hit the heights shown when they despatched of Irvine Meadow in the semi finals, and keep their focus, Largs will hope to give Auchinleck a real test in the Central YFL league cup final.
A good crowd is expected to travel to the final date when it is announced to cheer on the local boys, in another success story for the Largs Thistle Community Club set-up.
Largs Thistle manager Stuart Davidson told the ‘News’ he has been keeping an eye on the results and wishes the Thistle kids all the best for their forthcoming cup final.
Thistle : McDermid, Stewart, Riley, Herrero- Redden, Florence, Mills, Jack, Ferguson, Griffins, Allen and McShane Used subs: Bell, Devine and Mauchlen