The Bon Accord went top of the league for the first time this season after this home win against a game Lesmahagow team who never gave up even after going down to ten men in the 35th minute when their number 5 McLaren was sent off after two yellow cards in three minutes.

Shotts were confident on the back of the 5-0 win at Denny last week that Lesmahagow would pose few problems in this league match but it was soon obvious that the fluency and accuracy of last week's victory would be difficult to repeat on the very heavy surface at Hannah Park. Some were surprised that the game was taking place at all, given the fact that the frost meant that this was the only match taking place on grass in Lanarkshire.

The Gow opened confidently and had a decent chance which was thrashed over the bar before Tony Fleming later wrapped himself around one of the McGeachies in the penalty box. It should have been a spot kick but the ref decided not to give it - probably because the Gow man was offside before he latched on to the ball - therefore deciding two wrongs do make a right.

That apart, Shotts were the more fluent team and had a whole raft of half-chances which were either spurned or denied by yet another good keeper (almost as good as the guy at Dunipace) until Billy Russell got in a decent cross which was nodded down by Paul McLaughlin into skipper John Boyack's path and the rejuvenated midfielder whacked the ball past Thomson with his right foot for the opener in the 30th minute.

McLaren then got himself involved in a couple of silly fouls in the next five minutes and suddenly he was gone but not before giving his opinion on the standard of the Bon Accord's play as he wandered homeward to think again. Those of us who suffer nightmares which conjure up green and white hoops and the west end of Glasgow were worried about the memories of the last match at McKenna Park (strong similarities) were relieved that Lesmahagow showed none of the resilience of the Glasgow team for the rest of the first half.

After the interval Shotts were better. In the first half they had often been over-eloborate and played yet another pass when the ball should have been whacked goalward to see what Duffy and McLaughlin would do with the scraps but in the second half Paul Finnigan and Steven Barker found the space on the right to hit the goal line as often as they needed. In the 55th minute, Barker was unmarked as the ball broke free after a corner and his low left-foot drive was unstoppable.

Barker then provided a delightful cross from the right in the 69th minute for Billy Russell to head home the third and Shotts were on Easy Street. The Gow never gave up and Cunningham, who had a very good game, headed over Brown in the 88th minute to make the score respectable.

The introduction of Kevin Barr, Brian Jack and Graeme Irvine in the final 15 minutes gave the attack a much-needed jolt but no more goals were scored as Thomson in the Gow goal continued to excel. This was another of those matches when the opposition were aggrieved (correctly) at some of the decisions made by the ref but the fact of the matter is Craig Brown did not have a save to make and Thomson covered himself in glory with some really excellent saves. Shotts also hit the bar...