COLTS got back to Lowland League winning ways with a comprehensive victory against Dalbeattie Star at Broadwood.

First half goals from Ritchie Kirwan, Scott Davidson and Ross Kavanagh were enough to secure maximum points for the Cumbernauld men against their Borders visitors.
The home side made the perfect start with only two minutes on the clock when a corner was whipped in from the right by Max Ashore which fell kindly for Kirwan who drilled the ball low past Star keeper Vincent Parker from close range.
Colts continued to dominate the early stages and in 11 minutes they doubled their lead when they forced yet another corner which was delivered from the left by Stephen O’Neill, which caused all sorts of chaos in the Star defence before Davidson forced the ball into the net.

The visitors tried to force their way back into the game and went close on a couple of occasions, but Colts keeper Jonathan Grier was equal to anything thrown at him to keep the Dalbeattie strikers at bay.

But the hosts looked dangerous with every attack and in 29 minutes Kirwan advanced on the right before firing a deep angled cross into the penalty area which Star keeper Parker failed to collect, and the alert Kavanagh was on hand to sweep the ball into the empty net.

The Cumbernauld men started the second period brightly and had chances to extend their lead but poor finishing from Fraser Team and Marty Wright prevented them adding to their goals tally.
Dalbeattie struggled to find any way back into the game but on the hour mark Calvin Cowie went close when he cut inside Greg Pascazio and shot from 20 yards, but his deflected strike went narrowly of Grier’s left-hand post.

But Colts were in total command and had no need to charge forward and take the game to their opponents, but they did continue to look dangerous every time they broke forward. And in 67 minutes Wright really should have made it four for Colts but he headed over the bar with the goal at his mercy and with Star keeper Parker rooted to the spot.
The visitors again created a couple of half chances of their own, but Greer was on hand each time to block efforts from Iain Anderson and Lewis Sloan.

After yet another Colts breakaway in 79 minutes Team raced clear of the Dalbeattie defence and was pulled down by Liam Park which resulted in a Colts penalty, but Stephen O’Neil’s spot kick was saved by Parker.
And two minutes later Colts had another gilt-edged chance to make the win more convincing when Team was again clean through, but his shot rebounded off the post and Joe Moore's shot from the follow up was superbly tipped over the bar by Parker.
In the closing stages the visitors began to lose their discipline a little and Dean Brotherston saw red after being shown a second yellow in what was to be the last action of the game.

Colts will next be in action a week on Saturday when they travel to the capital to play Edinburgh University.

Dalbeattie Star; Parker, Park, Green, Wells, Thomson, Wilson, Brotherston, Ferguson, Anderson, Sloan, Cowie. Subs; Gordon, Williams, Kerr, O’Sullivan, McConaghie, Pipe.