Rose boss praises side’s cup win on poor conditions

Apr 14 2011 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

East of Scotland Cup Third Round

DAVE BAIKIE watched his side overcome North Division Lochee Harp and a “horrendous” pitch to book their place in the fourth round of the East of Scotland Cup.

The Rose boss revealed the playing surface at Beechwood Park was in such poor condition he doubts whether it had been touched by anyone following a game the Wednesday before.

He said: “I was delighted to win and with our performance especially as the condition of the pitch was horrendous and made it impossible to pass the ball.

“They had played on the Wednesday night before and it hadn’t been rolled, cut or even had any divots put down since. It was a very poor surface and it was a leveller but we did well considering.

“I think they probably chose not to roll it or treat it and I understand that teams have to do what they can to make games more even and give themselves a chance.

“We knew that would be the case and we had a game-plan to get the ball forward as often as we could which worked well.

“We scored early and the rest sort of fell into place afterwards.”

Rose frontmen Tommy Coyne and Colin Strickland bagged a brace a piece with Stuart McArthur also finding the net in their 5-1 cruise.

Baikie also revealed he is preparing to welcome long term injury victims Gordon Herd and Roddy McLennan back to training as early as next week with a view to playing a part in the final push for trophies.

He added: “I think Herd and McLennan could be back training on Wednesday and although they will have to work on their fitness we hope they can play a part before the end of the season.

“They could come back into the team next month and then be available for the last campaign of the season in which we will have a lot of crucial games.”

Fife and Lothians Cup Third Round

UNITED tumbled out of the Fife and Lothians Cup after they found their Superleague visitors too hot to handle.

Stephen Bathgate opened the scoring from the spot in the first half before he completed the trick on the hour mark with a second expertly executed penalty to win it for the Fifers.

BROXBURN swatted Spartans aside to move into the next round of the cup with a polished performance in which the result was never really in doubt.

Chris Geddes’ first-half strike was the difference at the interval and after the break John Jeffrey and Chic Pearson scored to put the tie beyond doubt.

Premier League

RELEGATION-threatened Whitburn showed tremendous fighting spirit at the home of the league leaders to recover from the loss of an early goal to lead – before being denied a priceless win by a last gasp leveller.

It was a bitter pill for the Burnie to swallow, especially after they had survived a penalty scare when their trialist keeper Stuart West produced a stunning save.

Gary Sutherland pounced just nine minutes in to put the leaders 1-0 up and from there it was assumed it would be a routine win for St Andrews.

But Whitburn dug deep into the kind of reserves they will need if they are to be successful in their bid to beat the drop.

Jamie Mackay lashed home a stunning free kick to draw them level midway through the first-half.

Then 10 minutes before the break a cross into the St Andrews box struck Ricky Patrick on the hand with the ref pointing to the spot.

David Murphy took the penalty and blasted Whitburn in front.

After the break the expected onslaught from the hosts arrived but waves of Saints attacks were mopped up by the visitors.

They did win a penalty of their own 17 minutes from the end, with David McGurk earning a red-card in the process, but West produced a wonder stop to keep Whitburn in the lead.

It looked as if the Burnie were going to clinch a stunning win until stoppage time when a cross from the cross took a lucky deflection of a trailing boot, crashed off the crossbar before falling for the perfectly placed Kyle Dammer who knocked the ball over the line for a simple but crucial equaliser.

South League

FAULDHOUSE slammed seven without reply past basement boys Harthill Royal to maintain their hopes of reigning in league leaders Livingston United at the top of the South Division.

The Hoose are just four points behind their county rivals but crucially have played two games more.

They had two hat-trick heroes in Mark Wilkins and Kenny Martin with the former completing his treble first so maybe he had first dibs on the match ball. David Connolly netted the other goal for the promotion hopefuls.

LIVINGSTON UNITED’S title chase is continuing at full-pelt after they fired four past Pumphy last weekend.

Goals from Andy Malone, Andy Roberts, Bryan Halliday and Stephen Payne kept Livi’s grip on top-spot as the league race enters the final straight.

Manager Andy Johnstone admits it is crucial his side keep winning.

He said: “We are getting to the nitty-gritty now and we have three very hard games next week but all we can do is take it one game at a time and do our best to win them.”

STUART MACLEOD bagged a last-minute winner for West Calder to earn three points for his side in a close scrap against Haddington.

Brett Agnew had put the home side ahead before they were pegged back and then as time looked to be against them Macleod pounced to win it.

STONEYBURN Juniors were undone by a single goal to go down at home and lose ground on the frontrunners at the top of the table.