ST ROCH'S maddeningly underlined their status as "the architects of their own destruction" en route to succumbing to a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Central Second Division league leaders Rossvale on Saturday.

Though they finished with only eight men, the underdogs dominated for huge swathes of a very eventful Springburn contest but paid the price for not showing they possessed a bite until the closing 20 minutes.

One would have added indiscipline to their list of shortcomings but for whistler Eddie Ferguson appearing to come down hard on Candy Rock misconduct while blatantly giving any benefit of doubt to Rossvale.

And nothing highlighted his inconsistent decision making more than the first half red carding of St Roch's midfielder Paul Roan for an innocuous midfield challenge and his subsequent failure to then send off Rossvale full-back Danny McLuskey for chopping down Martin Shiels from behind after the winger had danced his way to the six-yard line and was about to shoot for goal.

The resulting penalty-kick slotted away by veteran Chris McFadyean for a 4-3 scoreline with seven minutes left to play gave rise to expectations of St Roch's forcing a draw against opponents who had been 4-0 ahead at one point but Rossvale were able to close out the game with relative ease after the whistler took exception to offences from Kieron Martin(second yellow) and Liam McMahon (dissent).

The barking mad visiting supporters (some of them went bare-chested in the freezing conditions) loudly booed the match official but Candy Rock boss Andy Cameron was not over-critical in his summations.

He said: "I spoke to the referee and appreciate been afforded explanations for the decisions out there even though I don't necessarily agree with all of them.

"The handicap of playing with ten men for almost an hour has undoubtedly contributed to our downfall but so too has our wastefulness in front of goal because I felt we should have been three goals to the good before Rossvale scored their opening goal.

"That said, I cannot praise the guys highly enough for matching up so well against the probable title winners and what we must do now is repeat this level of performance in our remaining games and aim to finish in a mid-table position."

First half counters from Alex Cassells , Yami Misango and Pedram Ardalanay followed by Misango's second goal of the game in 70 minutes looked to herald a canter for the home team but scores by St Rochs substitutes McFadyean(2) and Jamie Johnstone almost turned the game on its head.

Relieved Rossvale gaffer Martin Lauchlan said: " To be 3-0 up at the halfway stage flattered us as we had only played in fits and starts.

"Scoring again in the second half looked to have sealed things however playing without our regular centre-backs was highlighted when McFadyean was introduced and we ended up fortunate to take all three points.

"St Roch's are one of the best sides we've faced this season and I cannot fathom out why they are near the bottom of the table?"

McKenna Park was among seven other West Region venues to survive the elements however out on the pitch, St Anthony's found they could not weather the storm thrown up by city rivals Vale of Clyde for whom Derek Hepburn (2) , Beau Longridge , Connor Stevenston and Joel Kasabundi were on target in an emphatic 5-0 victory.

At Super First Division level , Shettleston regained second top spot with a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory over basement strugglers Ardeer Thistle who had given rise to a shock upset when Martin McGregor headed them in front early in the second half.

Town hopes of staging a fightback were dealt a damaging blow shortly afterwards when Rikky McIntosh missed from the penalty spot, however their never say die spirit was rewarded by Kenny Marshall firstly levelling matters before Paul Martin conjured up a 91st winning strike to send the home fans delirious.

Third-placed Maybole went down 1-0 to Greenock but Rob Roy stayed in promotion contention just four points behind Shettleston after Scott Upton 's penalty-kick conversion proved the only goal of the game away to managerless Largs Thistle.

And a battling Irvine Vics edged clear of the basement area with Ryan McKay and Rory Campbell on the mark in a 2-0 defeat of Kilsyth Rangers.

The more illustrious of the Ayrshire town's clubs - Irvine Meadow - hosted the only Super Premier Division game to take place and the league leaders were left regretting their pitch passing muster as Hurlford United promoted themselves into the title reckoning with a hard fought 2-1 triumph.

Totally against the run of play, former Medda centre-back Chris Robertson headed home on the stroke of half-time to give United a half-time lead that would have been cancelled out early in the second half but for visiting keeper Ally Brown superbly saving a Willie Sawyers spot-kick.

A terrific Paul McKenzie shot doubled United's advantage and put the game out of reach for Meadow even though Gary McCann 's injury-time strike from all of 30 yards put a better complexion on the scoreline.