West Lothian junior football round up

Dec 10 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

Scottish Cup

Bathgate 4 Culter 1

THE Jags stung Culter to comfortably stroll into the next round on Saturday.

The ease of their progress seemed a world away in the early going when Culter took an early lead and boss-in-boots Graeme Love left the field with a dislocated ankle.

Bathgate were trailing at half-time before four second-half goals earned the 2008 winners a spot in the hat for the next round.

An Alex Lurinsky double and goals from Jim Lister and Brian McColligan was enough for the win.

Brian McPhee was sent off late on but Bathgate were cruising by this point.

And Love, who gritted his teeth through the pain of his dislocated ankle to take his place on the touchline, said: “My ankle was iced up pretty quickly which allowed me to get onto the touchline on crutches before half-time.

“We changed a couple of things at the break and they worked for us and we were excellent in the second half.

“We under achieved by going out of the cup early last season so we want to make up for that.”

Kelty 1 Linlithgow Rose 2

LINLITHGOW Rose have a quickfire start to thank for their place in the Scottish Cup fourth round after scoring twice in the opening five minutes.

Roddy McLennan netted a dramatic early opener, driving home at the far post after Ian Nimmo had helped on a Craig McEwan free kick.

Then three minutes later Rose doubled their advantage and knocked the stuffing out of the Fifers.

This time on target was Scott Wilson with the delivery of a McEwan free kick again unpicking the stitching of the Kelty back line.

Racing into such a commanding position gave the visitors a confidence boost and they were rarely troubled by the side they beat in the 2007 Junior Scottish Cup final.

But Tam McGeorge grabbed a late goal to give his side a lifeline and when Stuart McArthur was sent off for two yellow cards it ensured a nervy ending.

It made no difference to the result though as the Gallant Rosey Posey marched on in a competition they are traditionally very strong in.

Linlithgow: Pinkowski, McEwan, Tyrell, Ward, Wilson, Kelly, Nimmo, Adam, Flannery, McArthur, McLennan. Subs: Livingstone, Manson, Donnelly, Hogg, Smith, Virgili, McPherson.

Premier League

Armadale 1 Fauldhouse 2

THERE was an inter-county battle in the Premier League where Armadale met Fauldhosue.

The visitors raced into a 2-0 lead following strikes from Kenny Martin and Brian Felvus.

But Robbie Feeney halved the deficit with a contender for goal of the season.

And although it was a goal worthy of winning any match it wasn’t enough to earn a draw for the Dale.

Armadale manager Jim Henderson said: “The Premier League has been a big step up on a week to week basis but we’ve handled things right although it has been a big learning curve for all of us.

“We had a great start to the season with great results against teams like Linlithgow and Musselburgh but in this league we haven’t been killing sides off. “The players are disappointed if they don’t score in the first 10 minutes of games and at this level you have to be patient. “Confidence is still high though and everyone is focussed but there have been games when we feel we should have won and games when we have won but didn’t play that well.

“If we had a bit more consistency we would be higher up the table. We were disappointed in going out of the Scottish Cup because that was a game we should have won.

“Dundee Violet did what they had to do and they are in the draw for the next round but there’s still a lot to play for and a long time to go in the season.”

South Division

WEST Calder had a good 4–3 win at home to Spartans courtesy of a Steven Johnstone double and further goals from Andy Seaton and Brett Agnew.

Livingston drew 1–1 at home to Edinburgh with Stevie Cornwall getting the Livingston goal in the final minute of play.

Stoneyburn lost 3–0 at Tranent while Pumpherston were beaten 2–0 at home by Sauchie.