Two Alloa fighters got their Thai boxing careers off to the perfect start as Alloa SMTC enjoyed a great night of results in Galashiels, writes Scott Binnie.

Craig McIntosh, 25, and Eamon Cramb, 21, both made their debuts in the discipline and won their fights by knockout, as did their SMTC colleague David Airnes, 25.

Teenager Jay Milne, 18, drew his bout opponent while Steve "Shirley" McMeekin, 24, suffered defeat in his first professional fight.

McIntosh beat Galashiels' Tomas Matulevicius, with a stunning head kick at the start of the second round after a series of stiff knees to the body in the opening round.

Craig, who has a host of MMA experience, only found out he was fighting Tomas the morning of the fight.

He said, "That was my first Thai fight and I feel really good, absolutely brilliant.

"I was actually really nervous going into that fight, it's the first time I've been worried like that.

"I've been out with a knee injury and I got the cold as well so I wasn't in the best shape coming into this one.

"Tomas is a big boy isn't he? My plan was just to keep a tight defence in the first couple of rounds and hopefully later on I'd have been the fitter guy and I'd have started to catch him.

"However I landed some good knees at the end of the first round and when you hit someone in the body their hands drop and leave their head uncovered, so I went in with my head kick and managed to knock him out." Also winning his first fight, by knockout, was Eamon Cramb.

Eamon stopped Ant French of the Maryport Dragons in the first round with two solid kicks to the body, leaving his opponent unable to continue.

Cramb was unable to undergo a full training regime going into the fight after starting a new job and feared longevity may be an issue, but his early victory rendered that insignificant.

He said, "I'm really happy. I didn't get a lot of training for the fight because of work commitments but I kept fit and was watching my weight and everything.

"Having an unorthodox training schedule does bother you mentally and I was thinking I might not make it to the later rounds, but that wasn't an issue.

"I'll definitely be looking for more Thai boxing fights than anything else." Alloa's other winning fighter, David Airnes, was fighting for the first time in a year after keeping away from the ring ahead of his wedding in September.

David knocked out his opponent Taylor Ferguson in the first round with a big right hand after a ferocious opening flurry.

Airnes' previous fight was with Ferguson and the latter won that bout, so David was pleased to even the score between the two.

He said, "It definitely means a bit more to beat him after losing the last fight, he beat me fair and square and obviously I've got one back over him. Now we've got a rubber match to go, so we'll need to do it again." Coach and fighter Brian Stevenson, who was scheduled to fight in the main event until the club doctor pulled him out, was pleased to see his boys do so well.

He said, "It was a very good night for the club.

"The three boys that won, you can't complain with three knockouts - the best of the night.

"Young Jay has a full career ahead of him and it was big Steve's first professional fight, he went the distance and fought a guy at a better level than him, so he's done really well.

"Of course I'm also disappointed that I didn't get to fight myself.

"The five of them have done really well for Alloa and they're helping to put us on the map."