Largs Colts 2 Dalry Thistle Colts 5

Largs Colts suffered cup heartbreak at the hands of Dalry Thistle for the second time this season, this time in the NASA league cup.

Largs started strongly but suffered an early setback when Archie Fisher was forced off the pitch with an achilles injury after only four minutes of play.

The local youngsters continued to dominate and struck an early blow when captain Connor Sanbrook lifted a delightful ball over the defence for Cullin McLaughlin to chase. When the advancing Dalry keeper made a hash of clearing up, McLaughlin was left with the simplest of finishes into an unguarded net.

It should have been two after 20 minutes after the ref played a good advantage for a foul on Jayden McCubbin and the ball deflected into the path of Nathan Orr, whose shot beat the keeper but rebounded agonisingly off the crossbar and the danger was cleared.

The frame of the goal came to Dalry’s rescue again shortly before half time; McLaughlin burst through the inside left channel and from a tight angle struck the base of the post with Levi Scutt unable to force home the rebound.

Largs were made to pay for those missed opportunities when Dalry levelled from the spot following a tangle on the edge of the box and then quickly took the lead with the aid of a sizeable chunk of luck, when a shot from distance deflected into the path of the Dalry winger who finished clinically past Alex Semple in the home goal.

That quickfire double knocked the wind from Largs' sails and they fell 3-1 behind following another clinical finish. In an attempt to get back into the match Largs threw caution to the wind and went man for man at the back and conceded a fourth before McLaughlin scored his second of the day from a Tyler Gray through ball to make the scoresheet.

As Largs pressed in the hope of setting up a grandstand finish they were caught on the break in stoppage time. Dalry ran out 5-2 winners and Largs were left to wonder what might have been.

Team: Alex Semple, Reyd Stevens, Hamish Donaldson, James Struthers, Magnus Church, Connor Sanbrook (c), Archie Fisher, Andrew Faulkner, Jayden McCubbin, Cullin McLaughlin, Nathan Orr.  Subs: Levi Scutt, Elliot Cornell, Tyler Gray, Arran Sullivan, Sam Clark.