LUGAR Boswell Thistle may be viewed as "underdogs" by many this season - but boss George Wallace says he is happy to accept that tag.
The Jaggy Bunnets' boss was delighted by how his side started life in the West of Scotland Football League (WoSFL) Third Division after they earned promotion last season.
The East Ayrshire outfit continued on the hot streak with which they finished 2023-24, defeating Glasgow United 4-1 away from home to make it 16 competitive games unbeaten.
Things didn't always look good for the Rosebank Park side, who trailed 1-0 at the break after former Scotland international David Goodwillie gave the home side the lead at Greenfield Park.
But second half goals from Ewan McIver, Ethan Craig, Conan Mackin and Kyle McCulloch ensured that all three points came back to Lugar.
“They’ll be tipped to be one of the better teams in the league," Wallace said, "so I’m really happy.
“The second half performance, especially, was everything I asked from them.
“At half-time we were down 1-0 but I would have said we had the majority of the play. We just weren’t clinical.
“I made a wee change and said 'let’s just have a right go here, get in their faces and do what we do best'.
“We pressed high and the front three just caused absolute mayhem. They were everywhere and all three of them got a goal.”
Wallace says he hopes opposition players and managers will continue to write Lugar off as the season continues
"Everyone will write us off this year," he said, "which I’m happy with. We’ll go in as underdogs and that suits us.
“Some of the guys there were even asking ‘where is Lugar?’ – they didn’t have a clue.
“I hope everyone underestimates us all year.”
And the Jaggy Bunnets manager says he hopes the excellent run which took Lugar to promotion from the Fourth Division last season can continue for a while yet.
"That’s 16 games unbeaten now, we just need to keep going.
“We’re not going to go the whole season unbeaten, but we just need to take that winning mentality and keep going.
“We’ve got nothing to celebrate yet. It’s just one win, it’s just three points, but it’s good to get off to a winning start.”
Next up for Lugar is a home match against Ardeer Thistle at 7.30pm on Wednesday, July 31.
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