Tranent enjoy goal feast against St Cuthbert Wanderers in Lowland League play-offs

Tranent thrashed South of Scotland champions St Cuthbert Wanderers 7-0 in the first match of the Lowland League round robin play-off as striker Wayne McIntosh netted a hat-trick.

It was a dominant performance from the Belters at Foresters Park, with forward Martin Maugham chipping in with a double, and gives them a huge boost ahead of visiting Darvel on Saturday. The Ayrshire outfit travel to Kirkcudbright on Wednesday night and Tranent boss Calum Elliot is planning a scouting mission.

“We did our homework and we knew how we could try and hurt them; to be fair to the boys, again, they did everything that we asked of them,” said Elliot.

“I am absolutely delighted with the result and the performance. From start to finish it was a dominant performance, it was throughly deserved and I don’t think the scoreline flattered us. At the end of the day they are South of Scotland champions so we knew we had to be at our best.

Calum Elliot insists Darvel are hot favourites for next week's play-off decider

“In terms of where our squad is at with the boys we had missing, for the boys to deliver that kind of performance was credit to them.”

Elliot believes Darvel are the favourites to come out of the three way battle on top and secure promotion to the Lowland League, he continued:

“The big thing for us was to give ourselves the best possible chance of getting into the Lowland League, and we’ve done that. I think it will come down to a one-off game next Saturday.

“We will prepare as best as we possibly can, we will be down on Wednesday and we will have done our homework. We are under no illusions that they will go into that game as huge favourites, but it’s a one off game and it will come down to which team handles the game best.

“It’s going to be very, very tough and we will have to do things differently but those are the sacrifices you have to make in these one off games. They are huge favourites. If you asked 100 people, the majority would say they would be overwhelming favourites but it’s a one off game. We will make sure our boys are ready for it.”