Rose boss beamons defensive injury crisis which has cost his side dearly

May 19 2011 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

LINLITHGOW ROSE would already be Superleague champs but for a crippling injury list which has robbed them off a settled defence reckons boss Dave Baikie.

The league leaders have been without the services of key stoppers at key stages this season and Baikie believes this is why his side are now very much second favourites for the title.

Rose dropped five points from six this week as they lost to nine man Tayport on Saturday before then being held to a 1-1 draw by county neighbours Bathgate Thistle on Tuesday night.

It has handed the title initiative to their fierce rivals, and current league champs, Bo’ness who although they trail Rose by a point, have played two games less.

Bo’ness were scheduled to play Musselburgh last night (Wednesday) which could see them move to the top of the pile before they host Rose this weekend in a must win clash for the county side.

The bitter rivals met at the same stage last season with Bo’ness winning the battle and the title war which is something Baikie is desperate to avoid.

But he can’t help wondering what might have been but for their defensive crisis.

He said: “I’m almost certain that the league would have been won by now had we had all our defenders available all season.

“We’ve never had a settled defence all season long which has been the difference.

“By contrast Bo’ness have had a regular seven very good defensive players while we again had to play two midfielders at the back on Tuesday night.

“We have scored more goals than anyone else in the league but our goals against is up there with teams in mid-table or even below.

“You never know what will happen now but I think the finishing line is in sight for Bo’ness and I wouldn’t expect them to falter.

“We won’t give up though and all we can do is wait and see how it pans out but we’ll certainly try and prolong it.

“For our fans our rivalry with Bo’ness is the biggest in junior football.”

Linlithgow’s week of missed chances began on Saturday when they slumped to a home defeat against nine men to leave their title hopes hanging by a thread.

Steven Pinkowski kept the scoreline blank at the break with a flying penalty save to claw away James Russell’s spot-kick but Tayport still took the lead on 70 minutes through Robbie Henderson.

Rose recovered to level through a Tommy Coyne spot-kick before Tayport regained the lead with a second Henderson strike. Stuart McArthur forced home to move the hosts back onto level terms before the visitors won it through Mark Whatley.

Stuart Ferguson and Barry Donachie both received their marching orders before the end for Tayport who held on a for a win which left Baikie stunned and bemoaning the fact the final two goals his side lost were identical and should have been preventable.

He explained: “We just didn’t play very well at all. It was 0-0 at half-time and was quite even but in the second-half I felt we had a lot more of the ball although they looked more dangerous going forward.

“But we lost two goals from identical positions which was disappointing. After we equalised the first time we were pushing for a second goal when their keeper caught a cross into the box and launched it upfield with a huge kick which our defence didn’t clear properly and they scored from.

“We managed to level again but then the same thing happened as their goalie caught a cross and launched it up the park and again we didn’t deal with it and we went behind.

“We were missing a few players, especially our two centre-halves which forced us to play midfielders at full backs and our regular full backs in centre half but I’m not making any excuses.

“We have to help ourselves. I was quite angry and frustrated on Saturday as we have had plenty opportunities but not taken them.

“Other teams have been dropping points and the pendulum has swung from us and then back to us but we’ve failed to make the most of them. It is a strange situation and it seems like no-one wants to win the league.”

On Tuesday night Rose had the chance to steer their title train back on track but they were undone by a goalkeeping masterclass by Bathgate’s Marc Lunn who repelled wave after wave of Linlithgow attacks with a series of super stops.

It started well for Rose who got their noses in front with another predatory strike from Coyne but they were pegged back by Chris Jeffrey.

From there Rose dominated but in Lunn they found a man at the top of his game and he helped his side to a point which could sound the death knell on Rose’s title ambitions.

And while Baikie heaped praise on the Jags keeper he admitted his side had let the chance to wrap up the title slip through their hands.

He added: “It was a missed opportunity for us but their keeper played an absolute blinder. He made six or seven terrific saves and we couldn’t find a way past him.

“Over the piece I felt we played quite well and for most of the match it was one-way traffic and hit the bar and had so many chances stopped by their goalie.

“We were in a great position but through a number of problems with personnel and other things it has slipped.

“Maybe there is an element of players not having been in this position before so some of them might be struggling to cope.

“The pressure in that situation doesn’t help and with the expectation on them they haven’t managed to step up the plate.”