THE winter weather struck again last Saturday to deny West Fife’s Junior Cup representatives the chance to spring a shock.

For the second week in a row, Crossgates Primrose’s meeting with Beith Juniors and Oakley United’s clash with Linlithgow Rose were postponed due to frozen pitches.

While Oakley’s tie with four-time winners Rose at Blairwood Park was an early call-off, the visit of 2016 winners Beith to Humbug Park was originally declared on before the match referee decided that the surface was unplayable shortly ahead of kick-off.

The two teams will try again today to stage their third round games.

Lochgelly Albert 4 Rosyth 2

ROSYTH’S rescheduled trip to Lochgelly Albert beat the weather but they couldn’t get the better of their opponents on Saturday.

After a late call-off seven days before, Gardiner’s Park was cleared as playable but any hope that the visitors had of making it five wins from six away games evaporated within a nightmare opening half-hour.

Rosyth’s impressive form leading up to this game had seen them pick up six maximums from eight matches to sit fifth in the South Division table, only three points off second-top Edinburgh United.

That gap, however, has now doubled, while their derby rivals jumped above them, after this defeat that saw them fall three goals behind in 30 minutes.

Lochgelly enjoyed a dream start when Ricky Cooper’s shot left goalkeeper Mark Rowbotham helpless after just two minutes, and things got worse for Rosyth when Iain Miller headed home a second at the back post 10 minutes later.

Although Blair Duff smacked the Albert bar with an excellent free kick, Rosyth found themselves three down when Martin Rennie found Euan Henderson to fire home.

The visitors tried to work their way back into it, forcing a succession of corners before the break, and did manage to make the breakthrough with 20 minutes to go when Gregg Robertson headed home Gregg Page’s corner.

Another corner, this time by Stevie Slimmings, found the head of Robertson once more six minutes later to head in a second goal for Rosyth but, just as an incredible fightback looked on, Tam Hampson saw red for a challenge on Millar.

Two minutes later, the game was over when Joe Kirby slotted home Lochgelly’s fourth to hand Rosyth their fifth league defeat of the season.

Friendly: Kelty Hearts 2 East Stirlingshire 1

THOMAS COURTS believes that this Saturday’s trip to Leith Athletic is a “level above” East of Scotland League games they’ve faced so far.

The Kelty Hearts boss takes his table-toppers to the capital for a top-of-the-table clash and he wants his team to earn the win that could be the launchpad for a successful second half of the campaign.

With no league game on Saturday, Kelty warmed up for the game by beating Lowland League East Stirlingshire in a friendly at New Central Park.

Scott Dalziel diverted Conrad Courts’ header home from close range to put the hosts ahead and, although Jamie McCormack equalised, a Jordan Tapping own goal before the break won it for Courts’ team.

The game kept his squad ticking over their final two league games before the festive break and Courts said: “Any time we have a bit of downtime I try to take games against teams from a higher league.

“We’ve played six or seven teams from the Lowland League and I feel like it’s a good benchmark for where we need to be, although in the short-term we need to get out of this league.

“Taking the opportunity to play Lowland League and senior opponents allows us to gauge our progress, and with the Lowland League teams it’s an advantage because we could come up against them in cup competitions.

“We know that this is a low margin-for-error league, and we’re aware that one or two slip-ups could be fatal, so we’ll keep being as professional as possible.

“This Saturday is what I think is our biggest challenge so far. Leith Athletic were going through a bit of a transition at the start of the year but they’ve won nine and drawn one so they’re right on our coattails.

“Typically, they’re up there at the end of the season. We were pushed close by Preston Athletic twice and have had a couple of other decent games but from the intel we’ve had, Leith are another step above.

“Hopefully, it will be the springboard for what we need to do when we come back after the festive break.”

He added: “Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale will be a formidable opponent (in the title race) but we need to keep playing and put further daylight between us.”

Saturday’s fixtures (kick-offs 1.45pm unless stated): Scottish Junior Cup third round – Crossgates Primrose v Beith Juniors, Oakley United v Linlithgow Rose. McBookie.com South Division – Rosyth v Harthill Royal. East of Scotland League – Leith Athletic v Kelty Hearts (3pm).