Football: Hurlford United back on top with Whitletts win

Dec 14 2012 by David Wren, Kilmarnock Standard

Whitleets 2 Hurlford 5 Super West 1st

Hurlford United regained top spot in the league with a win away to basement boys Whitletts Victoria.

Missing for Saturday’s trip to Ayr were regulars George Wallace and Ian Fulton due to work and family commitments.

This allowed new boy Euan Blair, on loan from Morton, to make his debut for the Ford at the heart of the defence.

Hurlford began the game brightly and opened the scoring on nine minutes through Simon Eeles’ deflected effort.

The away side continued to apply pressure soon doubled their lead from a corner, Martyn Brown heading the ball into the path of Eeles, who finished emphatically.

Not long after it was 3-0. A Kieran Paterson free kick found Calum Watt, who nodded home from six yards to get his first of the day.

Whittlets were given a lifeline on 34 minutes when a cross from the left found its way into the Hurlford six yard box and was turned into his own net by Brown.

Any hopes of a fightback were killed off when, seven minutes later, Brown made amends for his own goal by volleying home after a corner to make it 4-1.

Shortly before the break, Ford made it 5-1, with Watt taking a long ball down on his chest before powering past the two centre backs and firing in his second.

Surprisingly the second 45 minutes yielded no goals, although Hurlford had plenty of chances.

Watt, Nimmo and Eeles all came close to scoring.

Ford are now three points clear at the top with a game in hand over second-placed Largs.