Threave Rovers boss Vinnie Parker says Rossvale Academy picked the wrong team to get physical with on Saturday.
The Castle Douglas side ran out 9-0 winners to continue their perfect start to life in the fourth division of the West of Scotland League. And he believes his players showed they are up for the fight in more ways than one.
He said: “You learn in the first five or 10 minutes what you’re up against. They chose to be overly physical against us. We knew if we were to have any hope of climbing through the leagues we’d have to adapt physically. Right throughout our squad we have people who can handle that side of the game pretty well.
“If teams want to smash us, we’ll smash them back and smash nine goals by them!
“Tam Coles led the line very, very well. He was unlucky not to get his hat-trick. They tried to kick him up and down the pitch but he’s a boxer and a very good boxer at that so they probably picked the wrong man to try to get physical with!
“We managed to play off that and it got us goals. They sat deep, I think they had three or four missing and chose to be physical but that type of tactic doesn’t work against us.”
Coles fired Threave into the lead after just five minutes, doubling the lead soon after.
He then turned provider to set-up Dylan Cairnie for the third, Lewis Sloan making it 4-0 with less than half an hour gone.
Alex Henderson took the score to five before Coles missed the chance to complete his hat-trick when he hit the post with a penalty.
But there was still time for a sixth before the break when Cairnie got his second.
Phil Middlemiss got the seventh before Cairnie completed his hat-trick with a penalty, Connor Potts rounding off the scoring late on. Both sides ended the game with 10 men, Parker being confused as to why defender Ross Thomson was sent off in the second half.
He said: “It’s absolutely baffling, I haven’t got a clue what he was sent off for.
Our first penalty was a foul on Liam Douglas – someone chopped him from one side and someone chopped him from the other. I’m surprised he wasn’t chopped in half and nobody got sent off.
“The foul on Alex Henderson, I’ve seen people jailed for less than what happened to him, but he laughed it off.
“Neither of them were sendings off but he’s chosen to send Ross off, I don’t know why.
“It’s a big loss, he’s playing really well and improving all the time. I’m confident he could play at Palmerston or Galabank week in, week out.”
He added: “You know what you’re going to get there. It’ll probably be pretty similar treatment. We’ve got a big target on our back when we play South teams.”
