McBookie Premiership

CUMNOCK 4

IRVINE MEADOW 0

By Frank Cassidy

SLEEPING giants Meadow remain in a slumber as they await their first league win of the season.

Less than 10 minutes were on the clock when they fell behind to Cumnock, despite the efforts of keeper Shaun Newman.

He did well to deny Scott Anson, when finding himself one-on-one with the frontman, but Ray Montgomerie scored from the loose ball.

Meadow's reply was instant as Jared Willet delivered an inviting cross which was just out of Andy McLaughlin's reach.

There followed a few nervy moments as the visiting defence came under siege and it was no surprise when Cumnock doubled the lead in 16 minutes.

Paul Burns split the defence with a pass to trialist Dan Carmichael and he finished well.

More defensive woes followed with Stephen McKenna taking advantage of a mix-up with a lob from distance which was just over.

Another indication that it was not going to be Meadow's day came with an injury to Jared Willet, which forced Brian McGinty into a reshuffle.

The introduction of Aaron Connolly did produce one positive, though, as he turned in a decent performance.

As half-time approached Newman kept the margin at 2-0 when he bravely dived at the feet of Carmichael.

McGinty's half-time talk looked to have been a wake up call as his players started the second half well.

McLaughlin's shot from the edge of the box was blocked before Connolly delivered an excellent cross.

Mark McLennan then joined the attack as he sent a ball into the box, albeit keeper Ally Semple did well to gather.

Then Connolly was caught just offside as he latched on to a long ball as Meadow enjoyed their best spell of the match.

Not being able to breach the home defence as they briefly dominated proved crucial, however, as Cumnock increased their lead.

A sublime McKenna pass found Carmichael who wrong-footed the defence, and found Burns who picked his spot.

To their credit, Meadow did not throw in the towel in the remaining 25 minutes as they carved out several scoring opportunities.

McLaughlin and Reece Pearson combined with two attempts on goal - Richard Murray cleared over his own bar to deny them any further strikes.

But another clinical finish by Carmichael in 76 minutes confirmed Cumnock's superiority and made it 4-0.

Towards the end, both McLaughlin and McKay had on-target shots blocked to confirm that, indeed, it was not Meadow's day.

DEJECTED Irvine Meadow manager Brian McGinty admitted the players had suffered tough times on their return to the Premiership, but he may have to revamp the squad.

He said afterwards: "We had players missing but every team has players missing at this stage of the season. So that's not an excuse. We are a million miles away from what's needed and it's been a tough few weeks for the guys. But that's the reality of playing at this level. We have come up, through the play-offs, and done really well last season.

"Now it's all about finding levels and finding out if we are capable of playing at this level and, if not, we will have to improve. But the players have been great for me, I am not going to hang them out to dry but, if we have to improve the squad, that's the reality.

"We are nowhere near the level, which is disappointing.

"The only positive was Aaron Connolly getting an hour under his belt after being out for almost a year. He has worked hard to get back and I think he can be happy with himself, but not the result."

IRVINE MEADOW: Newman; McLennan, McKay, Begley, Miller, Carnwath, Carson, Devlin, McLaughlin, Pearson, Willet (Connolly 24). Subs not used: Gow, Anderson, McGinty, Bannister (gk).