Kilsyth Rangers are well beaten at Largs

They were well beaten by a Largs team who were only a little better but were at least willing to try and get a few shots in, although aided by some dodgy defending and a very officious referee.

In perfect conditions Rangers began quite well, pushing up, and had an unexpected piece of luck after just nine minutes when Creag Little received a straight red card for a last man foul well outside the penalty area.

It seemed a bit harsh perhaps but going down to 10 men this early appeared to give Largs something of a boost and they made quite a few decent openings.

Rangers tried hard to get forward but the home keeper was never really tested. Then, nearing half-time, a robust tackle by Kilsyth’s Stuart Livingstone also resulted in a red card; perhaps the referee was just trying to even things up, again the offence barely deserved the penalty.

No scoring at the interval was a fair reflection of the first half. But the second period was barely five minutes old when a long ball in from near the touchline by Dylan Stevenson seemed to catch keeper David Kane unawares and Largs were one up.

It was not long before they added another when centre-half Nicky Jamieson went up and headed in from a corner.

Rangers brought on Marc Duffy and Andrew McGlaughlin in an effort to add a bit more threat up front but to little effect.

And when Largs substitute Jared Keifer put in a long speculative punt which Kane again failed to cut out, Thistle were home and dry.

Gary Graham, Rangers’ new signing from East Kilbride, came on late on but had little service or time to show his worth as Kilsyth’s hopes of perhaps reaching a promotion play-off position took something of a dent.

Kilsyth have no game this weekend.