Rhu Amateurs’ Caledonian League team continued their Jekyll and Hyde start to the season on Saturday with a 9-0 win away to Stirling University – but it was a less happy occasion on home soil for the club's Greater Glasgow Premier League squad.

Shaun Wallace led the way with four goals in the comfortable win against Stirling's students – though it wasn’t achieved without plenty of effort in challenging conditions, with plenty of ice cold bottled water required to cope with the heat.

After back-to-back defeats on home soil at the hands of Dunblane and Kilsyth, a superb Garry Stillwell strike gave Rhu the advantage before Wallace added a second, though Brooks Tadlock was the best player on the park in the first 45 minutes, proving far too hot for the Stirling defence to handle.

And Rhu tightened their grip on proceedings after the break, with a further three goals from Wallace, one each from Lewis Campbell and Brian Cameron, and two from substitute Ali Maule rounding off the scoring.

Special mentions go to Ally Fagan who moved mountains to help out in goal, Craig Stratton, who hunted down the ice lollies from the sidelines, and Stewart Fraser who found said supply of ice cold bottled water to help the team cope in the second half of the match.

MEANWHILE, Rhu’s Greater Glasgow Premier AFL squad as they were well beaten at the DCF Park on Saturday by an Eaglesham side who had far too much in the tank and cruised to an 8-1 victory in the team’s first league match of the campaign.

The game kicked off 45 minutes late after the match referee got stuck in traffic – but after an even first 15 minutes under a blazing hot sun, Rhu were soon thinking it might have been better if the whistler hadn’t arrived at all.

Kyle Sharkey came close early on, firing across goal with the Eaglesham keeper well beaten, but the visitors took the lead from a well-rehearsed corner routine, making the most of some poor Helensburgh defending.

That last comment can then be repeated three more times before the break as poor decision-making and a failure to deal with the ball left the visitors 4-0 up at the break and in complete control.

A brief flurry of resistance at the start of the second half saw Caleb Phipps pull one back from the penalty spot, but the Rhu revival didn’t last long, and with the ball given away cheaply all too often, the hosts were punished four more times by a hungry Eaglesham side on an afternoon to forget for the home team.

Boss Sam Gemmell said: “It was a real disappointing performance today from the boys. I’m not sure where it came from, as our cup games have all been contested well.

“It’s the first game of what will be a long season so hopefully we get the poor performance out of the way early on.”

Squad: Gemmell, McConnell, Johns, Conroy, McKell, A. Sharkey, Johansson, Black, Jeffrey, Phipps, K. Sharkey, Griffiths, Toms, McKee.

THE draw for the first round of the West of Scotland Cup was made on Tuesday and handed Rhu’s Caledonian League team a home tie against EK Harp on September 18; the club’s GGPAFL squad was given a bye into round two.

Rhu's Caledonian League side saw their scheduled league match at home to St Joseph's AFC on Wednesday night postponed after a crash on the A82 led to traffic congestion which meant the visitors wouldn't have been able to reach the village in time for the scheduled kick-off.

This Saturday, September 4, both Rhu teams are due to be in action away from home in the first round of the Kappa & Only Sport Scottish Amateur Cup.

The club's Caledonian League side travels to Bearsden to play Kirkintilloch Thistle, while the GGPAFL squad makes the even shorter trip to Dumbarton Common for a tough tie against St Patrick's FP.

Both matches kick off at 2pm.