Published: Thursday, 29th May, 2008 12:35
Kelty Hearts crash out of Redwood Leisure Cup
By Sports editor Simon Harris
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KELTY’S hopes of a cup treble disappeared on Monday night when they were beaten by Super League champions Lochee United in the quarter-finals of the Redwood Leisure Cup.
The Jambos lost 3-1 with only a late John Martin consolation to show for their efforts and must now focus on their Maloco + associates Cup semi-final away to Glenrothes on Saturday and an East of Scotland Cup quarter-final at home to Bathgate on Tuesday.
Hearts assistant boss Craig Smart told Press Sport, “I was disappointed with the result because I thought we had a great chance to go on and win the cup.
“We had the better of the play until we gave away the first goal with suicidal defending and we lost three weak goals.
“I felt that we didn’t work hard enough or were organised enough when we didn’t have the ball and we faced an uphill struggle when we conceded the third just after half-time.
"The main thing this season was to stay up in the Super League and finish as the top Fife side but Stevie (Leighton) and myself have high expectations and we’re still hopeful of lifting a cup.”
Rosyth boss Paul Mooney was pleased with his players despite losing 4-2 against Arniston Rangers on Saturday, a defeat that leaves them without a home league win this season.
Craig Morrison gave Recs the lead but the West Fifers contributed to their own downfall with two own goals, by Gary Smith and Kris Vaughan, which gave the impetus to Arniston, who made it 3-1 by half-time.
Morrison pulled another goal back in the second half but Rangers added a fourth at the death.
Mooney told Press Sport, “The second half we played really well and got back into it at 3-2 but then lost a scrappy goal.
“I thought the boys did really well considering we’re down to the bare bones.
“Although results have been disappointing, the attitude of the boys is there.”
Mooney has presided over something of a mini revolution since taking over from Billy Spence with four or five players leaving the club and some trialists drafted in until the end of the season.
The manager has already started building for next season with up to 10 new players having agreed verbally to join Recs, some of which are current Super League players.
“We’ll have nine or ten new ones on board next year and with the six or seven guys that are left, that will be the basis of the squad for next season,” Mooney explained.
“It’s really encouraging. Even though results have been going against Rosyth, I’ve had guys from Super League and Premier League teams phoning me up and asking if I’d be interested in signing them.”
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