Overtown Thistle storm back after early shock

Nov 26 2008 by Andrew Weston, Wishaw Press

OVERTOWN THISTLE were caught cold on Saturday in the early stages of this third round West of Scotland Cup tie against fellow Lanarkshire League opponents MLS Leeds before storming through to the next round.

Overtown were two down in the opening 15 minutes of this match, played at Tileworks Park, Stonehouse, following two superb long-range free-kicks from Kevin McInally.

This rocked Overtown but they began to show more urgency in their play and in 23 minutes they scored a magnificent goal to cut the deficit.

Paul McCabe threaded an inch-perfect ball through to Jamie Dickson, who wasted no time lobbing MLS keeper Graham Dobbie.

Overtown were on the attack looking for an equaliser when MLS Leeds broke clear with a quick counter-attack.

The Overtown defence had switched off and when MLS Leeds striker Alan Mooney made a run into the left channel, Mooney made the most of the situation and punished an overstretched Overtown defence with a simple square pass for fellow striker Anton McMann to fire the home side 3-1 up on the half-hour mark.

Overtown looked in disarray and the impressive home side gained confidence from their dream start and had chances to put the tie beyond Overtown.

But the visitors survived their rocky patch without further damage and Paul McCabe pulled a goal back just before half-time with a terrific curling shot from the edge of the box.

Overtown, who had looked very impressive in their 5-1 demolition of Paisley Amateurs in the previous round, were well below their expected standards in this first-half showing. However, the Jags came out in the second half and took total control of the match, scoring four goals to win the tie comfortably in the end.

MLS Leeds were camped in their own half for long periods as Overtown turned the screw.

Twice in quick succession, Overtown bundled the ball into their opponents’ nets in a crowded penalty box, Kevin McDonald and Bob Hughes inflicting the damage on the home team with goals in 71 and 73 minutes, respectively.

They continued to press for more goals and Greg Stevenson got on the end of a Jamie Dickson free-kick to put Thistle 5-3 ahead on 78 minutes.

Shortly afterwards, Jamie Dickson scored his second goal of the match with a precisely placed shot after some clever footwork to complete the scoring.

Overtown’s premier league campaign gets under way on Saturday with a match at Woodhall Thistle, traditionally one of the hardest places to pick up points.