On what was a windy and night at Lanark Thistle took yet another step on the recovery road.With David Cherrie suspended for 1 game following his ordering off against the Ryan Cooper was between the sticks . Lanark started strongly putting the visitors on the backfoot in the early stages with some easy on the eye passing football without any real penetration and slowly the Jags began to settle into the game so it was no surprise when they opened the scoring with tremendous header by Mark Cuthbertson from a pinpoint Graham Gracie struck free kick the visitors then went in search of a second which duly arrived after a Jack Currie shot had been blocked with Shaun Gallagher smashing the loose ball into the net .
Lanark were shocked by this and put the Thistle defence under pressure with Ryan Cooper having a great stop at the expense of corner when one to one with the Lanark no.8 .
Paul Dawson then had a tremendous last ditch tackle on the Lanark No.10 when he looked certain to score even coming away with the ball.
Half Time Lanark United 0 Larkhall Thistle 2
As expected the home team came out very much on the attack no doubt after some harsh words in the dressing room at the break but found if they breached the Thistle defence even at this early stage Ryan Cooper looked unbeatable with some top class saves. The visitors were content to hit on the break and with some better choices of the final pass could have inflicted more damage to the home team . The third goal arrived after a long ball found Jack Currie who turned the defender and sent an inch perfect cross to his strike partner Graham Gracie who controlled the ball with his left and smashed it into the net with his right very much a novelty that.
Thistle are now joint second in the league with Saturday’s visitors Greenock on 10pts. with Carluke Rovers on top on 12pts. Still very early in the season and a long way to go yet.
Team ; Ryan Cooper, Scott Cowan, Craig Dickson ,Adam Boyle ,Paul Dawson, Taylor Scott(Michael Brunton) Mark Cuthbertson, Shaun Gallagher ( Billy Wilson) Paul McAlembie(Harry Galloway.
Sub. not used Aiden McMurray.
Players missing David Cherrie one match suspension ,Ben Fraser injured, Warren Grenfell,
Bartosz Holiday , Kevin Wilson , Dylan ‘O’ Hagan working.
On a night when once again every single player gave their all Ryan Cooper had an excellent night with some top class saves but overall another great team performance.