'It was a bit of individual brilliance' - praise from boss Daryl Meikle as Lesmahagow AFC win third trophy of year

Already leading 1-0 in last Thursday night’s South of Scotland Amateur Cup final against Linton Hotspur at Newtongrange in Midlothian thanks to a Graham Gracie tap-in, Daryl Meikle’s men went two up on the stroke of half-time in phenomenal style when Taylor strode forward from his own half, carried the ball the full length of the park, beat the two opposition centre-halves and rifled a shot into the top corner.

“It was a great goal by Jack,” said gaffer Meikle. “It was a bit of individual brilliance to get us in at half-time 2-0 up."

Two goals to the good, Lesmahagow wrapped up the win in the second half when Taylor netted again on 53 minutes, smashing the ball into the bottom corner after a Gracie pass to make it 3-0.

Though Hotspur pulled a goal back on 85 minutes, it was too little too late as ’Gow – who’d only won the coronavirus-delayed 2019-2020 South of Scotland Amateur Cup 2-1 against Newtown on April 23 – prevailed 3-1 to follow up their Hills Solicitors Cinema Cup victory days earlier against Wishaw High Former Pupils.

“It’s a good achievement winning the same cup twice in a few weeks,” Meikle said.

“We’ve been quite fortunate in the cup competitions this year as Thursday’s win was our third trophy of the season and we lost in the league cup final.”

An injury crisis meant that Lesmahagow had only 13 fit players for last week’s win, a tough situation exacerbated by a hectic league programme culminating with them having to play their last five fixtures in the space of 10 days.

The latest of those on Monday night saw them record a 2-0 home win over Eastfield to stay in title contention in the Central Scottish Amateur Football League premier division.

“I’ve never seen anything like this year, when we have been crippled by injuries,” Meikle said.

“It’s not even people who have been out for one or two weeks, it’s people who have been out for six to eight weeks.

“We are starting to get a few players back, although obviously it takes a couple of weeks to get returning players back up to speed.

“Hopefully, we can use everybody in the run-in.”