Kelty Hearts 1 Jeanfield Swifts 2

THOMAS COURTS insists there is no cause for panic at Kelty Hearts after their unbeaten league record was left in tatters.

Relegation-threatened Jeanfield Swifts added to the Super League leaders’ misery of being knocked out of the Junior Cup by earning a shock success at New Central Park on Saturday.

They were helped in no small part by the red card issued to Murray Carstairs for hauling back Lewis Baker inside the box as he prepared to tuck home a cut-back after only 13 minutes.

Tony Holt issued double punishment by converting the resultant spot-kick to fire the Perth side ahead and they doubled their advantage just six minutes later despite the best attempts of unfortunate goalkeeper Kyle Allison.

Holt was picked out by a tremendous pass and, after the Kelty stopper saved his first attempt, he latched on to the loose ball and squared it for Keith Dewar, who couldn’t miss from six yards.

Despite their numerical and two-goal disadvantage, the home side refused to give in and set about laying siege to the Swifts goal; Shaun Greig was denied by a spectacular fingertip stop from goalkeeper Mark Mitchell, who pulled off a string of excellent saves, while substitute Archie Campbell struck the post as the game slipped away from the hosts.

Although Craig Thomson’s terrific curler into the top corner four minutes from time finally got them on the scoresheet, it proved to be scant consolation for Kelty but despite the disappointment of two successive defeats, Courts says his team are “relaxed” and believes they deserve credit for their performance with 10 men.

“We were unbeatable a fortnight ago but we’ve been beaten in the Scottish Cup and got beat in the league but the boys are relaxed,” he reflected.

“We created chances but the first 25-30 minutes suggested there was a bit of a hangover from the previous week. We were tepid compared to how we normally go about our business and Jeanfield capitalised on that. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb when we went down to 10 men; the game was in a bit of turmoil when they went 2-0 up and we realised we were actually in danger of losing.

“For the last 10-15 minutes of the first half, there was a bit of a resurgence and, for the remainder of the game, we laid siege to their goal. We hit the bar and their goalie made a couple of saves but I’ve got to give the players a bit of credit because, in both games that we’ve lost 2-1, we managed to get a goal back.

“That shows we didn’t lie down and were fighting to the end but the players are human beings. If you’re not at it in the Super League then you will pick up nothing and Saturday proved that.

“They haven’t become bad players overnight and we need to focus on what makes us a special team. We knew that it (the unbeaten run) would go; we just didn’t want to think about when. Now it’s gone we now need to be a team, likely everyone else in the league, who can handle a defeat and bounce back.”

Kelty are still 20 points clear at the summit but, with Bo’ness in second and Bonnyrigg Rose in third both holding games in hand, Courts added: “We’ve got an enormous lead but if Bonnyrigg and, to a lesser extent, Bo’ness win their games then we will feel a little pressure as they eat into our lead. But my message to the players is let’s not make things more difficult than it needs to be.

“Dundonald on Saturday is almost like a perfect game for us to have; they’ll be looking at ways which both the last two teams have beaten us and Stevie (Kay, Dundonald manager and former Kelty assistant) knows the club well.

“Defeat hurts, although there were mitigating circumstances behind it, but our preparation needs to be right, prepare to represent ourselves to the standards we’ve set and hope it’s enough to bring us three points.”

Saturday’s fixtures (kick-offs 2.30pm): McBookie.com Super League – Dundonald Bluebell v Kelty Hearts. McBookie.com South Division – Crossgates Primrose v Stoneyburn Juniors, Rosyth v Oakley United.