Brendan Sharpe was the hero for Irvine Meadow when he scored a last minute winner as they claimed a 2-1 victory away at Rossvale in their first competitive match as a senior club.

Meadow took the lead around the 20 minute mark before the home side equalised on 32 minutes.

Conditions were tough to deal with for both sides and it looked like they would have to settle for a share of the points.

However, Sharpe scored with what was almost the final kick of the ball to ensure Meadow would get off to the perfect start in their first game in the Premier Division of the new West of Scotland Football League. And Meadow co-boss Colin Spence was delighted to start the season with a hard-fought victory away from home.

He told the Times: “It was a brilliant start to the season for us and a massive three points. There is no better way to win a game than scoring in injury time.

“I felt we probably were not at our best on Saturday and once we got the first goal Rossvale came into the game and perhaps dealt with the conditions better than us but the boys hung on in there.

“It’s not an easy place to go and play with the plastic pitch so the boys dug deep and played right to the final whistle and got the winner in the end so I am delighted with the result.

“The conditions were horrible with the wind and it did not allow us to play our passing game and perhaps it levelled the game out.

“It was not easy for the boys but they kept going and threw balls into the box in the final 10 minutes and then the ball fell to Brendan and he tucked it away so I am delighted.

Elsewhere, Kilwinning Rangers got their league campaign underway with a 2-1 defeat at home to Blantyre Victoria.

Buffs boss Chris Strain told the Times: “I don’t think we played as well as we could have even taking the tough conditions into consideration.

“It’s very difficult to play in those conditions but ultimately we could have defended both goals better and in terms of creativity we could have done a lot more.”

This weekend Meadow take on Largs while the Buffs face Darvel.