Irvine Meadow 0 Kilbirnie Ladeside 1 as battling Blasties boost survival hopes

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Shaun Dillon insists Kilbirnie Ladeside still believe they can pull off the great escape after claiming a vital away win this afternoon.The battling Blasties had Dylan Henry's predatory instincts to thank as they left Irvine with three precious points after a scrappy West of Scotland League Premier Division encounter at Meadow Park.The striker was in the right place at the right time to slam home a rebound from close-range in 53 minutes and give the visitors a lead they never looked like relinquishing.Even when midfielder Alan Frizzell was controversially sent off with 15 minutes to go, Kilbirnie's defence and goalkeeper Joe Wilton looked assured.Ladeside still languish in the seven-team drop-zone with just five games to play - fewer than their nearest rivals.But co-boss Dillon insists his players have the minerals and the mindset to believe they can beat the dreaded drop.He told Ayrshire Football News: "I thought the boys were excellent to a man today and fully deserved the three points."The work rate, the desire and the application we showed to want to win a football match was terrific."You saw that when we went down to 10-men.

There was no panic, everyone got together. That's the team spirit we're building."He added: "No-one here is giving in and thinking we're getting relegated.

We still believe we can stay in the league. "We've got five cup finals left. We're just going to battle on, win as many as we can and see where it takes us at the end of the season."The players have done great since we came in to get us to this position so all the credit goes to them.

I'll feel sorry for them if the effort they've put in just isn't enough."Both sides struggled to create clear-cut chances in a nip and tuck first half.Meadow,