It’s Monday lunchtime… It’s roundup time. We’ve got all the goals from Saturday’s six matches covered.
CIVIL SERVICE STROLLERS 0-2 SPARTANS
Spartans moved to within three points of their hosts after victory in the North Edinburgh Derby at Christie Gilles Park.
A tough and fiery encounter saw both sides have to make early substitutions due to injuries before the visitors took the lead on the stroke of half-time.
A long ball forward was flicked on into the path of Blair Atkinson who coolly put the ball through the legs of Josh Donaldson in the Civil goal and into the back of the net.
Spartans made it two with fifteen minutes to go when another long ball forward from Spartans was headed on by Civil defender Mark McConnell and past Donaldson who could only watch the ball trickle into the back of his net.
The result leaves both sides in fourth and fifth place in the Lowland League table but Spartans have closed the gap to the sides above them and still have games in hand as they aim to climb above Civil and Kelty before the end of the season.
Yesterday’s opening goal from @blairio96 slotting home a flick on from @steve_Mac15 just before half time pic.twitter.com/oIalmuHJhy
— The Spartans FC (@spartansfc) March 31, 2019
Cumbernauld Colts 2-1 Vale of Leithen
Cumbernauld Colts remain in seventh place despite defeating the Innerleithen side 2-1, however, the defeat and other results means Vale move down to 12th.
It was Craig Murray that put the home side ahead 26 minutes in although not long before half time, Vale grabbed a penalty which Marc Berry was able to put home to equalise.
The game seemed settled to finish all square until Craig Henderson was able to get the winner for Colts with four minutes remaining. The victory takes Craig McKinlay and James Orr’s men six points ahead of Edusport Academy in eighth place but remain two points behind East Stirlingshire in sixth but Colts do have a game in hand.
Edinburgh University 3-2 Gretna 2008
The University side moved up to 10th place and away from the bottom four thanks to an edgy victory over an out of form Gretna side.
Both teams went in level at the half time break as Dean Watson put the visitors in front on 12 minutes with his first goal of the season before Ross Watters equalised after 38 minutes. In the second half it was Dorian Ogunro’s side that were able to slip away from Gretna after grabbing another two goals in the second half through Mark Waters, then Ross Watters netting his second of the game. Despite a decent fight from Gretna with top-scorer Kevin Connolly scoring his eighth league goal of the campaign, the University men were able to finish with a one goal margin.
Gretna remain in the bottom three, while Edinburgh Uni climb up the table and distance themselves from the relegation fighters.
Dalbeattie Star 0-0 University of Stirling
Dalbeattie Star all but secured Lowland League safety with a 0-0 stalemate at home to University of Stirling on Saturday.
The point takes them nine points clear of Whitehill Welfare at the bottom of the table with Welfare having three games remaining meaning they’ll need to win all of them and overturn a 16 goal difference.
It was the visitors who had the better of the chances as Blair Lyons, Rory MacEwan, Eachainn Miller and Aidan Ferris all had opportunities saved by impressive Star shot stopper Vinnie Parker. Hugh Cameron also had a solid game at centre back for the hosts helping to secure the clean sheet.
Lee Wells thought he was fouled in the box at the death but Dalbeattie’s penalty appeals were waved away and the match ended 0-0 and the visitors collected their tenth draw of the campaign, the most of any club in the league.
East Kilbride 4-0 Kelty Hearts
East Kilbride did not let the fact they have already won the league affect them as they put on a scintillating performance against Kelty Hearts on Saturday.
Kilby started the game brightly and on the 19th minute they took the lead. Cammy Russell had a neat exchange with Jamie Longworth and fired the ball into the back of the net.
Russell looked fantastic in the opening stages and it was not long before he grabbed his second of the game. On the 39th minute the winger fired home his second after the Kelty defence failed to properly clear their lines from a corner.
After the half time break it was more of the same. Kelty didn’t offer much and with 15 minutes left to play the found themselves 3-0 down as Jamie Longworth scored from a scramble from a corner.
There is little doubt that the best player on the park was Cammy Russell and the winger topped off a fantastic afternoon with a third goal to claim his hattrick. He calmly slotted home in the 77th minute to wrap up the scoring.
A fantastic performance from EK, however Kelty will be disappointed with their performance.
Whitehill Welfare 0-3 East Stirlingshire
Whitehill failed to put an end to their miserable losing streak as they were defeated yet again, this time by East Stirlingshire.
East Stirling started brightly and nearly went ahead in the 8th minute after a superb volley from Jamie Gallagher clipped the crossbar and went over. However, the hosts were ahead soon after when Steven Brisbane opened the scoring on the 14th minute.
Ross Allum has been absolutely superb this season and unsurprisingly he grabbed yet another goal in this one. He put the home side 2-0 in front after 25 minutes.
Heading into half time, the score was still 2-0 and it was not looking good for the visitors. However, after the restart they looked slightly better. David Maskrey saw a shot go narrowly wide.
However, their improved start meant nothing and they found themselves 3-0 down when Paul McCafferty rose excellently and headed home.
Whitehill did manage to hold out and prevent any further scoring and the game finished 3-0.
It is an excellent result for the visitors and is their second 3-0 win in a row. However, it is a miserable result in what has been an absolutely miserable season for Whitehill.
