Kelty Hearts 1 Armadale Thistle 2 KELTY HEARTS’ unbeaten Super League home record was finally ended on Saturday as Armadale Thistle blew the title race wide open.

Thomas Courts’ league leaders remain in pole position to land the title but with nearest challengers Bo’ness United and Newtongrange Star holding games in hand, this was an uncharacteristic – and potentially costly – slip up against a side battling to avoid the drop.

Despite dominating the opening 45 minutes and peppering the Armadale goal, Kelty had nothing to show for their efforts and while they continued on the front foot after half-time, a slack pass from Roger Duffin back to Sean O’Neill was intercepted by the visitors’ left midfielder, who rounded Kyle Allison before calmly slotting the ball home.

Worse was to follow as the Thistle number 11 netted his second goal despite the best efforts of Allison.

A cross from the left was headed clear to the edge of the box by Courts and after a volley was saved by Allison, he then produced a second save to deny the Thistle midfielder before he tapped home at the second attempt from close range.

It was a frustrating afternoon for Kelty, who hit the woodwork no less than three times, but they were rewarded for their attacking endeavours when Craig O’Reilly pounced on a defensive mistake and held off the attentions of a Thistle defender to shoot low under the goalkeeper’s body with his left foot.

O’Reilly had one final chance that he sent over the bar but he could not prevent the home side falling to a shock defeat and the gap at the top cut to 16 points, with their rivals having between seven and five games in hand.

Boss Courts said, "We're a tight unit defensively and the goals against us were uncharacteristic, but we created numerous chances and sometimes it's destined not to be your day.

"We have to dust ourselves down and we're still on top and dominating the league. We have a tough game against Musselburgh on Saturday who are a team in form, and it is a nortiously difficult place to go to. But it can't come quickly enough for us and the lads are still in good spirits."

Rosyth 1 West Calder United 1 LEE RICHARDSON bemoaned Rosyth’s bad luck in front of goal as they were held to a frustrating draw by West Calder to dent their promotion hopes.

Despite dominating proceedings after Darren Fleming’s opener for the West Lothian outfit, Greg Robertson’s freak equaliser from an intended cross before half-time was all they had to show for their efforts as they found the visiting goalkeeper in top form.

Kevin Goodwin was denied before Robertson’s goal and Rosyth dominated the second half. Using an attacking 3-4-3 formation, Tam Hampson was guilty of squandering a couple of opportunities that his boss admitted he would normally score.

“They scored after 10 minutes with their first shot on target but after that it was all us,” Richardson said. “Greg’s went up the park and crossed the ball and it’s went into the top corner, so it was a bit of a fluke but we’ll take it, but in the second half we were well on top. They parked the bus to be honest with you and their keeper made a few good saves, while Tam’s missed one or two that he’d normally score.

“I can’t remember our keeper having another save to make in the game. They are a bit of a bogey team for us but it was very frustrating.” The result leaves Rosyth third in the South Division table, three points adrift of Whitburn with a game in hand but with Falkirk Juniors now level on points having played a game less, Richardson’s men face a fight to be promoted alongside leaders Haddington Athletic.

But Richardson added, “Falkirk have still got to go to Whitburn so we’ll move on and we have a good game on Saturday at Blackburn who are a top team. It’ll be a tough game but we’ll see what happens.” Crossgates Primrose 0 Falkirk Juniors 3 CROSSGATES boss David McNeely refused to be too downbeat after his side fell to defeat against a side he rates as the best they’ve faced all season.

Three first half goals from Martin Ure, James McAteer and Graeme Watson secured a 12th successive victory for the promotion chasing visitors as they piled the pressure on Rosyth in the hunt for second place in the South Division.

Despite the contest being effectively over by the half-time break, rock-bottom Primrose did not go down without a fight and were unfortunate not to score after creating a some decent opportunities in the second half.

But an upbeat McNeely said, “There were a lot of positives for us to take because we had a good performance in the second half where we didn’t make any mistakes.

“We came out and had a couple of half chances but unfortunately we didn’t take one. We managed to battle away and our fitness was good which I was pleased with because for the first half an hour there was no time to catch your breath as it was 100mph.

“We had a few decent performances; Joe Miller on loan from Oakley did well up front and Dale Prattis was back to his old self in the middle of the park. It’s very easy to stop playing at 3-0 down but we dug in and kept them out.

“We’re still losing goals from mistakes and gave a couple away but, credit where credit’s due, they’re the best side we’ve played all season. They’re flying just now and I was impressed with them but that’s the difference when you’re able to spend a bit of money on your team, something that we can’t do.” Saturday’s fixtures (kick-offs 2.30pm): McBookie.com Super League – Musselburgh Athletic v Kelty Hearts. McBookie.com Premier League – Forfar West End v Oakley United. McBookie.com South Division – Blackburn United v Rosyth, Whitburn Juniors v Crossgates Primrose.