POLLOK increased their lead at the top of the Stagecoach Super First Division and strengthened their grip on the title by beating Shettleston 4-3 in a Newlandsfield thriller.

But the Southsiders made hard work of putting their nearest challengers to the sword, the superior attacking threat provided by man-of-the- match Alan McKenzie and his strike partner Davie Winters coming close to counting for nothing.

That was because the Lok defence lost three goals to opponents whose very direct approach in firing high balls in the direction of bustling frontman Scott Anson, proved extremely effective on the day.

Pollok gaffer Tony McInally admitted: "It was a terrific result, but certainly not one of our best performances, although I felt we were on top throughout and played the better football on the day.

"But even when we pressed them deep, Shettleston always had an out ball in the lad Anson, who put himself about and proved to be a bit of a handful. But our guys never shirked a challenge and coped reasonably well with his physicality."

The visiting Town 's encouraging start to Newlandsfield proceedings was undone by an unforced 10th-minute error when a booming kick upfield from Lok goalkeeper Jordan Longmuir was allowed to bounce inside the penalty box and McKenzie, cutting in from the left, deftly lobbed the ball over Bryn Halliwell for 1-0.

Pollok pushed forward and the in-form striker almost doubled his side's advantage with a powerful header that crashed off the crossbar and, shortly afterwards, Kevin Bradley headed over from six yards when it looked easier to score.

Shettleston were offering no more than token resistance at this point but, out of the blue, they equalised when a suspiciously-offside looking Anson was allowed to scamper clear down the left flank from where he cut inside to expertly slot a low shot beyond Longmuir.

And, on the half hour mark, he was again on target to help a Ricky McIntosh header over the line from point-blank range and put Shettleston 2-1 ahead.

But this see-saw opening half had further twists in the tail because, just five minutes later, the scores were levelled at 2-2 as Jamie Darroch rose to glance home a driven John Sweeney free-kick before the deadly Winters pounced on a defensive mix-up to fire home a left-foot shot ato give Pollok a 3-2 interval lead.

The early second-half exchanges saw Longmuir magnificently save a McIntosh volley and a Tam Hanlon free-kick hit the top of the crossbar before the visiting Town were dealt a hammer blow near the hour mark as midfielder Danny Boyle picked up a second yellow card for hauling down Lok skipper Paul Gallagher and was sent packing.

Nobody exploited the spaces in the depleted Shettleston ranks more than the rampaging McKenzie, and one searing run goalwards ended with him being upended by a Rab Jenner challenge to bring a penalty kick, converted by Kieron McAleenan for a 4-2 scoreline.

Any thoughts of the league leaders going on to further exploit their numerical supremacy were soon dispelled as an Anson flick found Kenny Marshall and, from an acute angle, he guided a header over Longmuir to end the scoring, but not the drama as whistler Gary Docherty and his assistant Lee Dixon contrived to anger both home and visiting fans with a series of bizarre decisions.

McKenzie put his outstanding display down to improved fitness levels in saying: "I'm probably fitter now than I've been in the past couple of seasons and it helps to be injury-free and playing regularly, so Saturdays don't come around quickly enough.

"It was a great team performance against our main title challengers, and to go 14 points clear of them is an advantage I cannot see them overhauling."

Shettleston gaffer Hugh Kelly said: "This league is yet to reach the halfway point, so the title race is far from over, but you would have to say a massive Pollok collapse is needed for them to come back into the pack.

"To go to Newlandsfield and score three goals, yet go away empty-handed is disappointing, and I also felt hard done by in terms of picking up six yellow cards to Pollok's one as they appeared to commit a lot more fouls than us, yet it was our guys' names going into the book.

"But I suppose it's only human for officials to react when 500 to 600 fans are screaming at innocuous challenges."

Maybole leapfrogged Shettleston to sit second top (from three games more played) following Andy Stevenson (2), Stuart McGrady and Stewart Peacock goals bringing a 4-1 defeat of bottom side Thorniewood United.

But the most notable Super First result came at Barrfields where Largs Thistle's 4-1 defeat by Greenock contributed to Sandy MacLean resigning after the game.