Published: Thursday, 6th November, 2008 12:20
Kelty boss makes players sit through video nasty after Scottish Cup exit
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CALM DOWN: The referee has a quiet word with Kelty boss Stevie Leighton during the cup derby with Thornton.
Pic by: Dunfermline Press
THERE was no cup joy as all four remaining West Fife juniors clubs crashed out of the second round of the Scottish cup on Saturday.
The biggest surprise was Kelty’s home defeat to Thornton Hibs while Rosyth went down at Beith, Oakley lost 4-0 at Petershill and Steelend went down fighting against Camelon.
Hearts boss Stevie Leighton forced his players to sit through a ‘video nasty’ of their performance in the 2-0 loss to Hibs where he also lost his top striker.
“We videoed the game on Saturday so after training we’ll look through the horror show and try and find where we went wrong,” he said.
Leighton took nothing away from Hibs but said his team lacked “the rub of the green” with Iain Mauchlen hitting the inside of the post and Craig Morrison forcing a fine save.
An own goal and a “wonder strike” did for Hearts and Morrison suffered a knee injury that will rule him out for Saturday’s match at Bathgate, and possibly much longer.
Leighton sighed, “It couldn’t get much worse.
"It’s a testing time for us as a club but we can’t keep going up and up and maybe we had too much success too quickly and the guys are struggling with that.
“When we took over two and a half years ago we were fifth in the Fife League and we won cups, got up to the Premier League then the Super League and the Scottish Junior Cup final.
“We’re still in the process of trying to strengthen the squad as our balance isn’t right, we know that, and the players aren’t available to buy or trade just now.
“We’ve got good footballers but we need an old-fashioned Juniors-type player, all blood, snotters and sweat as our midfield isn’t protecting the back four or supporting the strikers.
“It’s a test for us as the management too.
“We’ve tried slating them in the papers but we need to build their confidence up now as we haven’t become a bad team overnight.
“There’s still six or seven of the guys that played in the Scottish Junior Cup final but we need to get back on track quickly.”
Despite their 3-0 defeat at Beith, Rosyth co-boss Jock Lumsden was pleased with his players’ “encouraging” performance.
He said, “When we got there, there was a good atmosphere as they have a not bad support and, as we’re a young side, I wondered if our boys might get a bit of stage fright.
“But the boys did really well, played some good football and even their committee admitted the scoreline flattered them.
“We were the better team in the first half but went in 1-0 down at half-time.
"In the second they scored a second goal which was offside and that was the turning point.
“We changed formation to a 3-4-3 to try to get a goal back but we got caught on the break.”
Attention switches back to the East Central League this Saturday with second-placed Recs facing a home derby against Steelend.
“Our main focus is to be looking to win the league,” Lumsden admitted, “so it will be good to get back in league action and, hopefully, get another win.”
Vics will be in good heart despite losing 2-1 at home to Camelon and tumbling out of the cup.
No-one gave them a prayer against the Super League giants but they hit back after going two down and, with Camelon down to nine men and holding on, Vics almost grabbed a draw.
A late goal flurry put Oakley out as they were still in the match after an hour only to ship three goals in the last 25 minutes to put the tie beyond them.
Oakley boss Stevie Kay said, “It was hard enough as it was but we were without Craig Lumsden, Martin Parkin, Keith Connor and Ross Galbraith. A game of that magnitude came far too early for us.”
All four should be back to face second-placed Penicuik at home in the Premier League on Saturday together with Alan Moody and Greg Sinclair, though Chris Hughes, on loan from Albion Rovers, will be missing.
“We have to restore Oakley to being a fortress once again,” Kay said.
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