Rose surge clear at top of league table

Nov 20 2008 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

Rose surge clear at top of league table

Linlithgow Rose .......... 3 Lochee United .............0

TITLE hopefuls Linlithgow Rose made a huge statement of intent this weekend as they trounced holders Lochee United to pull four points clear of the chasing pack at the top of the Super League pile.

The holders are a massive 14 points behind Rose now and have dropped as many points at this stage, 11 from just six games, as they did in the whole of last season.

Rose are now clear favourites to take the Super League flag and with it a place in the senior Scottish Cup.

The West Lothian side took the lead after just 14 minutes when Ian Gallagher rose to power home Mark Bradley’s corner.

After the break Linlithgow doubled their lead after a calamitous mistake by Scottish junior international keeper Iain Ross.

He parried an Aaron James shot up into the air, and diverted it into the top corner of the net after the ball had come back off the crossbar.

Sean Grady completed the rout with Rose’s third goal when he raced in on goal and finished from 15 yards.

Linlithgow Rose boss Brian Fairley was delighted with the win.

He said: “Last week when we beat Hill Of Beath, I thought there was a bit of sparkle coming back into our play and this week just increased that belief.

“I was chuffed with that result and it was a good reward for all the hard work the players have been putting in.

“I’ve been pleased with the way we’ve responded to the disappointment of being knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Whitburn earlier in the season.

“We could have easily gone the other way but we’ve been very solid.

“We showed spirit and were never under any threat until the last few minutes when they were flinging everything forward.”