It’s a knockout as West Lothian pummel Perth and Kinross

A hat-trick from Kyle Gray and four goals from Jack McMillan ensured that West Lothian maintained their 100 per cent record, following on from their 4-0 victory over Ayrshire in October.

Perth and Kinross’ best spell came in the opening minutes, but the West Lothian defence held steady and limited their opponents to a fourth-minute effort from the edge of the area that flew wide of the right post.

West Lothian settled into the match and gradually became the dominant team. They opened the scoring after 11 minutes when Tommy McCallister skilfully dribbled the ball into the left side of the area and his low cross was volleyed past goalkeeper Kevin Campbell by McMillan from close range.

The second goal, after 31 minutes, mirrored the first as McCallister provided for McMillan who again made no mistake.

Five minutes later, Fraser Cormack got in on the act. The impressive central midfielder retrieved a defensive clearance on the left byline and dribbled past three defenders before powering the ball into the left side of the goal.

West Lothian managed to grab one more just before half-time when Gray’s well-judged pass put David Porcher through on goal and he duly placed the ball into the middle of the net.

The second half started as the first half finished, and McMillan grabbed his hat-trick with a tap in after goalkeeper Campbell had parried a shot by McCallister from 18 yards.

McMillan was certainly on form in front of goal and his fourth goal came in the 48th minute. Zak Reynolds played the ball to Gray inside the penalty area, he laid it off to McMillan who buried the ball into the centre of the net.

Gray netted his first goal of his hat-trick two minutes later when he received a pass from McCallister and placed his shot into the bottom right corner of the goal.

A few minutes later, Perth and Kinross tested West Lothian goalkeeper Robbie Brown for the only time. A free-kick from 25 yards was parried by Brown, and the follow up shot went narrowly wide of the right post.

Another goal was scored after 57 minutes. Reynolds’ chipped pass found McCallister who lobbed the ball past Campbell into the net for 8-0. McCallister grabbed his second goal with a shot from 14 yards, which was deflected over Campbell into the right side of the goal.

Gray netted another with a few minutes of the match remaining when he shot into the bottom left corner from 16 yards after Reynolds’ pass found him unmarked, and he completed the scoring in the final minute, once again shooting into the bottom left corner.

Perth and Kinross were relieved to hear the final whistle as referee Dougie Kerr agreed to finish the match early.

West Lothian coach, Mark Molloy, was pleased with the performance and is hoping that the team can progress in the competition.

“The boys played great yet again. We actually started the game quite sloppily, but after that we were outstanding. There were some great performances and some of the play was absolutely magnificent. We’re very pleased with how it went. It’s a case of taking it one stage at a time. We’ve got a fantastic bunch of boys with some real talent in the team and hopefully we can do really well in this competition.”

West Lothian: Robbie Brown, Matthew Campbell, Ryan Coleman, Fraser Cormack, Owen Forrest, Leon Gopal, Kyle Gray, Ewan Herriot, Tommy McCallister, James McGregor, Ross McKechnie, Ruaridh McLeod, Jack McMillan, Jack Miller, Marcus Millar, David Porcher, Zak Reynolds, Jonni Turner.

Perth and Kinross: Kevin Campbell, Andrew Ferguson, Conor McKinlay, Paul Simpson, Jamie Gill, Arran MacLennan, Rudi Brown, Joe Summers, Zsombar Zsubrinsky, Adam Blackhall, Rory Pennycook.