Lisbellaw United 3 Strathroy Harps 5

Lisbellaw endured a "nightmare" second half as they threw away a 3-1 lead to Strathroy Harps.

Despite Kyle McCleery’s side falling behind to an early Corey Wood goal, they looked to be heading towards their first league win of the season when two goals from Paul Elliott and one from David Freeman gave them a two-goal advantage at half-time.

The game changed dramatically in the second half however with Harps scoring four to turn the game on its head.

“It was a game of two halves,” admitted Lisbellaw boss McCleery.

“At 3-1 we were looking good and fairly comfortable. We hadn’t played particularly well but we were probably the better team at that stage, but the second half was a nightmare. We conceded only a couple of minutes into the second half.

"That changed the whole complexion of the game and they had a spell where they were well on top. They started to go very direct and they were forcing us back with balls over the top and in behind.

"They were penning us back, but we had a couple of good chances to make it 4-2 which would have swung the game massively in our favour at that stage. I couldn’t have seen Strathroy coming back again, but we missed those chances and they got it back to 3-2 and 3-3 and they had a bit of momentum. It was a close game. Very fine margins, but it was disappointing from our point of view to be 3-1 up and come away with nothing.”

Lisbellaw started on the front foot and came close to opening the scoring with a Freeman header from a corner that came back off the inside of the post, with Paul McGrath blazing the follow-up over the bar.

Scott Moutray then raced through, but with the goalkeeper to beat he scuffed his shot and Dermot Donnelly made the save. In an action-packed opening to the contest, Harps took the lead in the seventh minute when Aaron Behan won possession in midfield and burst forward before squaring for Wood to tap in.

Harps held the lead for 20 minutes before Lisbellaw hit back, with Paul Elliott curling an equaliser into the far corner of the net. Having got back on level terms, Lisbellaw seemed to take control of the match with two goals in two minutes.

Elliott added a second, firing past Donnelly after the keeper had saved his initial effort, before Moutray was fouled in the penalty area and Freeman scored the spot kick.

Harps made a double change at half-time with Boyle and Sloan coming off the bench, and they had an instant impact as Shay Northern pulled a goal back two minutes after the restart.

Lisbellaw did have opportunities to restore their two-goal lead.

Scott Johnston directed a back post header wide from inside the six-yard box, and moments later he struck the post.

Jack Foster then fired wide, and Strathroy took full advantage of Lisbellaw’s misses in the closing quarter of the contest. Behan grabbed an equaliser, before scoring from the penalty spot to put Harps back in front.

Ollie Russell blasted a free-kick off the underside of the crossbar as Lisbellaw attempted to get back on level terms, but it was the away team that ended the game strongly and they sealed the victory with a late goal from goalkeeper-turned-attacker Adam Groogan.