Lisbellaw United 5 Mountfield 1

A Scott Moutray hat-trick earned Lisbellaw a victory over Mountfield and lifted them to third in the league table.

A quickfire opening from the home team saw them race into a three-goal lead after just 12 minutes, and although Emmet McFadden pulled a goal back for Mountfield, they never looked like overhauling Kyle McCreery’s side, with Jamie Coalter and Paul McGrath also finding the net in an emphatic win.

McCleery has been delighted with his side’s start to the season, but he admitted they were not at their best on Saturday despite the perfect start to the match.

“I felt we fully deserved to win the match and we were quite pleased with our performance, but I do think we were fortunate to be three-nil up so early on in the game,” he admitted.

“It was a dream start, but I thought we hadn’t started overly well. It was just that we scored with our first three chances.

“We were sloppy in possession and weren’t passing the ball well. They were closing us down and some of our players hadn’t got up to the speed of the game.

“Obviously, we will take it. It is another very good win because Mountfield are a stubborn, hardworking, physical side, so we were happy to come away with the three points.”

It took just four minutes for Lisbellaw to grab an early advantage. Lewis Vance’s pass presented Paul McGrath with a shooting opportunity, but his shot was blocked for a corner.

Moutray’s delivery was flicked on by McGrath and Jamie Coalter was on hand to poke the ball home from close range.

Four minutes later, another Moutray corner yielded a second goal for the home team when Philip Beacom laid the ball back for McGrath to side foot through a pack of players and find the bottom corner of the net.

Lisbellaw then added their third on 12 minutes.

Matthew Woods won possession on the edge of his own penalty area and carried the ball forward before setting Moutray clear.

The striker’s first touch rounded the keeper, and he rolled the ball into the unguarded goal.

As the half progressed, Mountfield started to recover from the early setbacks and snatched a goal back just before the half hour mark when a free kick from the halfway line from Aaron Lindsay was punted into the penalty area and Emmett McFadden produced a diving header that beat Sam McDonald in the Lisbellaw goal.

The visitors continued to try to fight their way back into the match and almost added a second when winger Eoin McElholm got in behind the Lisbellaw defence, but with just the keeper to beat, he lifted his shot just over the bar.

The game was effectively over ten minutes into the second half when Lisbellaw added their fourth, Elliott setting up Moutray for his second of the game.

He completed his hat-trick after an hour when Stuart Johnston’s pass set him clear, and he rounded the keeper and finished from a tight angle.

Mountfield’s Danny Gorman had a header saved by McDonald, and Lisbellaw substitute Robbie Little had a goal ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper as Lisbellaw looked to close out the game.

The home team were reduced to ten men with two minutes remaining when substitute Matthew Morrison was shown a straight Red Card, but it was too late to have any effect on the result as Lisbellaw comfortably held on to claim the points.