ARTHURLIE and Pollok set a terrific benchmark for the season in a rip-roaring 90 minutes at Dunterlie Park.

The Barrhead men defeated their arch-rivals 2-0, but the real losers were the many fans who stayed away because of the torren-tial downpours yesterday.

Lie's marksmen were George Wallace and Lee Sharp against a Lok side reduced to nine men following the dismissals of Stevie Miller and David McGeown.

There was a shock in store for visiting fans when Lok boss Jim Sinnet left skipper Stevie Aitchison on the bench and started with a central defensive pairing of newcomers Craig Gupwell and Derek Wingate.

It was a gamble that backfired just four minutes in when a mix-up between Gupwell and keeper Kris Robertson allowed Wallace to fire into an empty net.

And things got worse when Lee Sharp grabbed the second after Robertson had superbly parried away a Craig Malcolm penalty.

Things boiled over eight minutes after the restart when Lok's Miller launched a studs-up challenge on Lie midfielder John Johnston and was instantly red- carded by whistler Des Roache.

Despite being down to 10 men, Pollok were actually playing the better stuff, helped by Sinnett's introduction of Aitchison.

However, any comeback hopes were ended when McGeown - booked during the melee that erupted following Miller's dismissal - saw red after a petulant trip on Davie Williams.

Lie gaffer Mark Cameron praised his players' attitude, but insisted their second-half performance was not good enough.

He said: "It took the shine off all the superb work that had gone before. I'm obviously happy with the result but as it's only the first game of the season I'm not going to get over-excited and nor are my players."

Sectional League Cup holders Glencairn blasted signalled they have no intention of relinquishing their grip on the trophy after a 7-1 destruction of Blantyre Vics.

Colin Boylan's opener for Glens was cancelled out by Carlo Rea, but the turning point came just before the break when Vics' trialist keeper was red-carded.

Without a replacement stopper on the bench, Glens took full advantage to net six second-half scores from Boylan again, Stephen McGladrigan (3), John Paul Craig and Ryan McCardle.

Last season's beaten finalists, Port Glasgow, lost 3-1 at Vale of Leven. Leading the Section 7 standings on goal difference are Renfrew, for whom Gordon Cochrane, Chris Faulds and Derek Carson were on target in a 3-0 triumph over Johnstone Burgh .

The top Ardagh Glass Cup contest in Ayrshire ended in a 2-1 victory for Beith over hosts Kilbirnie, whose brave fightback from 0-2 down only succeeded in Gary Davidson putting a better complexion on the scoreline. Andy Reid and John Craig were the visiting marksmen.

Holders Auchinleck cruised to a 4-0 win over Muirkirk and Irvine Meadow's 8-1 crushing of Saltcoats proved to be the highest score of the night. But the big guns did not have it all their own way with Cumnock losing 3-2 at home to Lugar.