Lesmahagow Juniors and Forth Wanderers will contest Clydesdale Cup final

Lesmahagow triumphed 3-2 over Lanark United at Moor Park on Monday night, before Forth saw off Carluke Rovers 4-1 at Kingshill Park 24 hours later.The two McBookie.com Central Division 1 sides will now square off at Craighead Park next Monday night.The opening semi-final saw Lesmahagow recover from blowing a 2-0 lead to eventually run out victors thanks to a hat-trick by Lewis McDougall.’Gow took the lead on five minutes when McDougall scored after a defensive mistake. Away keeper Danny Tobin pulled off a terrific save to turn a header by Shaun Gallagher over the bar on 11 minutes. The visitors increased their lead on 25 minutes when a quick break upfield again found McDougall in a good position and he scored with a well placed shot.Lanark reduced the deficit on 35 minutes when Dale Gordon netted with a volley following a right wing corner. Five minutes into the second half United drew level when Ronan Kearney cut in from the right and beat Tobin with a powerful left foot shot.McDougall bagged his hat-trick on 58 minutes when he cleverly steered the ball into the net from a left wing cross.The second semi-final, which resulted in a comfortable win for Forth, was also decided by a hat-trick hero, in this case Kris Jarvie.The hosts opened the scoring when Jarvie deflected a Kris Dick shot past the Rovers keeper on 38 minutes. Carluke equalised four minutes later through the prolific Ian Watt, and the visitors would have been disappointed not to be ahead at the break after creating the better of the first half chances.Whatever Wanderers manager Jamie McKenzie said at half time had the desired effect as Forth began strongly and regained the lead within 4 minutes of the restart when Barry McGeechan netted from the penalty spot after Jarvie had been brought down by the keeper.Jarvie was enjoying himself, closing down, harrying and generally being a thorn in the side of the Rovers defence and it was no surprise when he popped up with a fine header to make it 3-1 on 64 minutes.He then completed his hat-trick three minutes later and took great delight in silencing those in the away support who had been giving him some stick! The game was now over as a contest and although there were further chances at both ends, 4-1 it finished.The one disappointment of the night was that the welcome return of Gordon Murphy in a Wanderers jersey lasted less than 10 minutes before he had to go off with a recurrence of his previous injury.Everyone at the club hopes it is not as bad as first feared and wish big Gordy a speedy recovery.