Oakley United 3 Livingston United 2

THERE was double delight for Oakley United boss Lee Richardson on Saturday as they racked up a fourth win in five league games and re-signed club favourite Alan McDonough.

Lee Celentano’s double and Kevin Gollan’s first for the club earned a hard-fought victory for the Blairwood Park outfit as they put their Scottish Junior Cup exit behind them to move up to seventh in the South Division.

On-form Celentano has been a valuable source of goals since Richardson took charge but the capture of McDonough will provide further ammunition for a side who have hit 19 goals in their 10 league games so far.

After Celentano headed home the opener, Gollan, signed from Valleyfield Amateurs, fired home a second inside the opening 25 minutes and appeared to have Oakley cruising towards victory.

The visitors, however, came back into the game on the hour mark through what Richardson described as a “silly penalty”, but Celentano soon restored United’s advantage.

An unfortunate own goal from Josh Wilson gave Livingston renewed hope of snatching a point in the final 10 minutes but Oakley held on and Richardson said: “We’ve moved up another place and things are looking positive just now. I said to the committee when I came in that I’m going to have to change the team around and make them hard to beat. We seem to play better away from home but I’m happy with the way things are going. I signed Alan McDonough on Saturday and I’ve got the two players I wanted in him and Scott McCrindle. I’ve also got Scott Morrison, Kevin Goodwin and Tony Doubleday, who’s been great at the back.

“I think we’ve won a watch with Kevin Gollan as well. He’s 29 and has experience but what an engine he’s got. That was the first time he and Scott have played together and I think they’re going to be a good partnership.

“We’ve got a tough game this weekend away to Dunbar because they’re a good side but we’ll go there and give it a go.”

Crossgates Primrose 1 Easthouses Lily 2

PRIMROSE boss Andy Brown was philosophical about Saturday’s loss to Easthouses Lily.

Crossgates are still to register a victory at Humbug Park this season after Gary Shearer’s first-half double proved enough for the Midlothian side, despite Liam Forbes pulling a goal back with 15 minutes to go.

Brown told Press Sport: “It is a learning process for some of our players because it is a step up for some of them. We can’t afford to switch off and make mistakes; Matthew (Christie) is a good young player but he made a couple of mistakes and it was a bit of slackness. It’s frustrating because I think we were on top and the committee at the end were asking how did we lose? They went to a back five for the last 20 minutes because we were running over the top of them, and our goalie only had one good save to make in the second half.

“It was a far better performance than against Kirkcaldy the week before.”

Brown felt Lily should have been down to 10 men for a challenge on goalkeeper Robert Wilson, adding: “It was a 50-50 and our goalie was coming out to get the ball but their boy went over the ball and caught him. If he’d connected with the leg that was planted, it would’ve been a broken leg so he’s lucky that it was the other. He’s got a bit of bruising but it’s nothing serious and, although I wouldn’t say it was intentional, it should’ve been a red card.

“We’ve got a tough one against Blackburn in the cup this weekend but that will be a good thing for us; we’re the underdogs and can have a free run at it. They beat us 3-1 on the opening day at Crossgates but we’ve come on leaps and bounds since then. We’ve had a look at them on highlights of their previous games and there’s one or two things that we’ve picked up on. Their main striker has scored 20 plus goals so we plan to keep him at bay. He didn’t score against us last time so hopefully we can do the same this time.”

Saturday’s fixtures: DJ Laing East of Scotland Cup – Blackburn United v Crossgates Primrose. McBookie.com Super League – Lochee United v Kelty Hearts. McBookie.com South Division – Dunbar United v Oakley United, Rosyth v West Calder United.