By Lewis Moynihan
Allan McLuckie praised his free-scoring side for ending the tie by half-time as they beat Bellshill Athletic to progress into the third-round of the Scottish Junior Cup.
With Tommy Sloan spying on Cove Rangers ahead of their senior Scottish Cup match, assistant boss McLuckie took the reins for the Junior version and said he was impressed with 'Bot from front to back.
He said: “We started well, scoring early doors and that gave us the confidence, but the game was pretty much over by half-time.
“Another clean sheet was good, a couple of weeks ago against Largs the defending was terrible, but that’s two on the bounce now.”
Dwayne Hyslop started the scoring in the opening minutes poking in from Mark Shankland’s corner.
Craig McCracken then looped his header over Ben McDougall to make it two, before Keir Samson bundled in to put 'Bot three up.
Shankland then hit a free-kick from the edge of the box low into the bottom right corner to make it four at the break.
It took Talbot a lot longer to break 'Hill down in the second-half, but they eventually did in the last 10 minutes through sub Bryan Boylan, making his competitive debut after joining from Kilwinning, who tapped in at the back post.
Boylan then scored again minutes later heading into the top left, before Shankland also got his second turning Hyslop’s header over the line.
The game was moved away from Rockburn Park, which has a capacity of 400, due to safety concerns around overcrowding however hill manager Robert Sneddon questioned the decision after the low turnout at Beechwood.
He said: "By all accounts I heard there was only 250 people here today so I don’t know if there was [safety concerns], it could have been played at home if that was the case."
