Published: Thursday, 18th December, 2008 11:10am

Goal-den weekend as Kelty and Recs in 17-goal bonanza

Comments (0) | Print | Email

WEST FIFE"S juniors strikers were on fire on Saturday as Kelty and Rosyth blasted 17 goals between them.

Charlie Scarborough scored five and missed a penalty as Rosyth Recreation ran riot, beating Scone Thistle 11-2 at home in the East Region Central League.

And Jambo Tam McGeorge fired a hat-trick in the first 15 minutes as Kelty Hearts won 6-0 at Armadale Thistle in the Fife & Lothians Cup.

Rosyth co-boss Jock Lumsden admitted that the league leaders" win was most likely a record.

'I was asking one of the committee members and he thinks that is a record for the club in a competitive match,' he told Press Sport.

'To be honest, it"s been coming for quite a while. We"ve been scoring fives and sixes – we scored six at Lochgelly and five against Luncarty – and our strikers were on fire.'

While Scarborough went nap, strike partner Alan McDonough hit a hat-trick and Colin Brown, Brian Vaughan and Clark Kay completed the scoring.

Lumsden paid tribute to Scarborough, who suffered a personal tragedy earlier in the season.

'He"s come back strongly after the death of his mother. She died at a young age – 52 – just over a month ago,' Lumsden said.

'He was with Raith Rovers as a YTS and went on loan to Glenrothes in the juniors but he didn"t like it.

'He played amateurs with Rosyth Civil Service and was capped seven times by Scotland amateurs and he scored in every game.

'He started working alongside me at the dockyard while he was playing amateurs. When we signed him a lot of people were doubting whether he could do it at junior level but he"s got 17 for the season already. Alan"s got 16 and they"re a good partnership.'

Lumsden said it wasn"t just down to the strikers, however.

'It was a good all round team performance and everyone was up for it,' he said.

'We were 5-1 up at half time and sometimes when you"re winning convincingly, you can drop your standards but we scored more in the second half.'

With title rival St Andrews dropping points in a 0-0 draw at home to Crossgates, Rosyth are six points clear with a superior goal difference, although St Andrews have two games in hand.

'We"ve just got to concentrate on winning every week,' said Lumsden, whose side travel to face Arniston Rangers in the first round of the Fife & Lothians Cup on Saturday.

Kelty are beginning to welcome back players to the squad now and the difference was plain to see in their thumping 6-0 away win at Armadale.

McGeorge"s quickfire hat-trick put them 3-0 ahead and further goals from Graham Findlay (2) and Davie Ross completed the job.

'Ever since we went out of the Scottish Cup our attitude has been different class in the games we have played,' delighted gaffer Stevie Leighton told Press Sport.

Findlay came off the bench to score his two goals and Leighton enthused, 'I think he edged man of the match as his work rate was second to none – he was different class.

'At 4-0, the game could have died a death but he kept going, which is why he got his goals.'

As well as Findlay, Leighton was able to name a bench that included new signing John Rushford, Craig Morrison, Stefan Winiarski and Russell Smart in contrast to recent games where he"s been forced to recruit trialists at the 11th hour.

'It was good for John to get 40 minutes of a debut and the balance is getting there,' Leighton said. 'We knew what was missing before – that was the good thing about it.

'We"ve got a big six-pointer away at Bo"ness on Saturday and we want to push away from that 10-point mark as we"re only four points from the bottom of the league.

'But if we win one or two, we could be third.'

Saturday"s fixtures: Fife & Lothians Cup, first round – Dunbar United v Oakley United. Second round – Crossgates Primrose v Haddington Athletic, Arniston Rangers v Rosyth Recreation. East Region Premier League – Bo"ness United v Kelty Hearts. Kick-offs 1.30pm.