Red Star take two goals from Neilston but fail to take home the points

It was all Neilston at the beginning of the second half; they were putting the young Red Star team under great pressure and were soon on level terms in the 47 minute.

A long ball into the heart of Star’s box became like a pinball finally falling to Neilston’s number seven, who drove the ball passed Leon Murphy in goal.

Red Star were really struggling to cope with the wind and the power of the opposition and were to fall behind for the first time in the game around the 60-minute mark after Neilston’s excellent right back got onto a deep cross and finished brilliantly into the far corner.

This seemed to wake Star up and they had chances to equalise with McLean, Green and Z Campbell all coming close but to no avail.

On 75 minutes Star were denied a stone-wall penalty after young Zak Campbell was brought down four yards inside the box only for the ref to wave play on; even the Neilston home support knew it was a penalty.

With 10 mins remaining Red Star had to push for an equaliser and put on the experienced Neil Russell whose craft and game management won a free kick 10 yards from the half way line.

From the resulting free kick striker McLean was unlucky not to score after latching onto the cross and firing his shot directly into the keeper’s hands after an excellent cross from Geordie Todd.

The game was as good as over when on the 90 minutes Neilston scored their fourth and final goal of the game.

Red Star’s Kieran Caskie was bundled over in the middle of the park and the referee waved played on, resulting in the ball falling into the path of the number 10 who fired his shot high into the net to finish the game on 4-2.

Red Star coashes said: “To travel with so many youngsters in the squad and the way we played today was excellent - our average age must have been 22.

“The two goals and the chances created are what the lads are doing in training, it’s great to see and proves that the hard work pays off.

“Like we have said before, we are a new team and we will improve the more games we play. We have a great squad and we are constantly looking to add more bodies as we are trying to create an environment where football is competitive at training with players fighting to win a starting place in the first 11.”

Red Star have a free weekend on Saturday, August 17.