New trialists capture the eye as Largs overcome Winton

Largs Thistle 3 Winton Rovers 0
And so the dark day of no World Cup arrived after a marvellous month of sport but thankfully the Largs Thistle cavalry charge came to the rescue, and were on fire with a thumping win over a hard working Winton side. 
Fresh from a short break after winning a magnificent seven league wins to secure promotion to the Premier, Stuart Davidson is trying to fine-tune his side for the start of the new season which begins a week on Saturday.
It is undoubtedly early days and a lot of trialists were on board but the good turnout of fans enjoyed some sparkling football on Monday evening, which was surprising given it was only the first friendly of the season and players are traditionally just finding their feet.
It was admittedly a bit odd watching a football match now without VAR though!
The Ardrossan side had a few Largs men in their team including full-back Matthew Ashe, and Andy McGregor.
Rovers teed up some early chances with Brandon McEvoy turning in an early effort on the Largs goal, before jostling past Nicky Jamieson to a bouncing ball but lost control with just Blair Cousar to beat in the Largs goal.
However, Thistle soon settled down and were beginning to spray the passes around and were leaving Winton chasing shadows.
The opening goal arrived as John Carter, the man who scored the last goal of last season for Thistle to set them up for promotion to the top flight, scored the first of the new season with a pinpoint header from Laurie McMaster's run and cross to the byeline.
This gave Largs a measure of confidence as they had a new found swagger to their game which was impressive given the amount of debutants in the side, and they were catching the eye.
McMaster came close with a rasping drive which had to be beat away by Winton keeper Chris Lamb but it was the ever dependable Martin Orr who let rip with a curling drive from outside the area which hoodwinked defence and keeper for a glorious second before half-time.
The second half had some more high pressing play from Largs with some clever passing keeping Rovers on the backfoot.
The third goal was carved out by one of the impressive young trialists who pinpointed sub Kevin Struthers run at the near post and struck an inswinging corner which the veteran Thistle forward hit home with a stylish volley from close range on 62 minutes.
Carter twisted and turned past defenders and forced Lamb into a good save as Largs hunted for a fourth.
Despite the deficit, Winton still worked hard and carved out some good openings at the end of this encounter, with some dangerous crosses into the box, and Kenny Parris launching a good effort which just flew wide of the left post, while Parris should have pulled the trigger first time after a quick opening in the box but tried to beat too many men in the end-up and was dispossessed.
These early pre-season games sometimes don't offer much for supporters but everyone in Largs went home happy after seeing a convincing early showing with some new faces offering hope and excitement for the future.
Largs; Cousar. Trialist, McMaster, Little, Jamieson, Trialist, Carter, Orr, Adam, Trialist, Trialist. Subs: McVey, Struthers, Trialist, Trialist, Graham (GK).
Winton: Lamb, Mears, Davidson, Ashe, Longair, McGregor, Davidson, Lennox, Parris, McEvoy, Campbell. Subs; Wilson, Smith, Tan, Bruce, Ross, Anderson.
Pics: John Keachie.