Published: Wednesday, 24th December, 2008 2:00pm

Oakley boss delighted with convincing cup win

by Simon Harris

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OAKLEY UNITED boss Stevie Kay feels his side have turned the corner after an impressive 4-2 Fife & Lothians Cup win at Dunbar.

Kay, who took over at Blairwood Park in October with the side rooted to the bottom of the East Region Premier League, saw his side run out convincing winners in the Lothians with two goals from Greg Sinclair and one each from Brendan Cusick and Lee Celentano.

'The performance was definitely better than the result, which says something because we went away from home and scored four goals,' Kay told Press Sport.

'On another day we could have given them a doing.

'From my point of view we are turning the corner. We are playing well but we just need to learn to be ruthless and kill teams off in the way the likes of Hill of Beath and Kelty would do.

'Lee Celentano has probably got about five or six goals in eight games since I came in, he"s given me a good rate and Greg Sinclair has maybe three or four in five.

'We are turning the corner but, unfortunately, we"re not getting the league points.'

Kay admitted he was in the hunt to strengthen his squad and was optimistic about his side"s chances of beating the drop.

'Definitely,' he said. 'We have 12 league games left. We know there"s a lot to do and we"ve got a long way to go.

'I just hope we"ve not already run out of league games because we"re not going to win all 12. Hopefully, there"s enough to secure ninth spot and stay up.'

Kelty boss Stevie Leighton complained his side had given Bo"ness 'an early Christmas present' after losing a game which the Jambos dominated completely 1-0.

It wasn"t the best preparation for Saturday"s big derby at home to Hill of Beath and Leighton said, 'Honestly, if you were a betting man, you would have said in that first half it wasn"t a case of if Kelty were going to score but when.

'We told them at half time that if they just made the right decisions in certain areas it would take care of itself but we went back the way and that was disappointing.

'That"s twice we have played them and twice we have had them on the ropes just ready to finish them off.

'My main worry is these are the games we have to win to decide which half of the league we are going to be in.

'Losing that game means we are going to be fighting with the bottom six rather than fighting with the top six.

"We"ve got a big derby against Hill of Beath on Saturday and it was an opportunity for some players to cement a place.

'I just felt a few didn"t take advantage of that situation.

'We will have to get our finger out this week. It"s massive.'

Leighton hopes to welcome back Ian Mauchlen, Craig Morrison and Adam Moffat and said, 'We want to get the right result but when I played for Kelty against Hill of Beath, we were the two biggest teams in the Fife league.

'Now we are two small fish in a big pond and it"s not just about a derby.

'But what does add spice is that you have to go to work alongside people from Hill of Beath and Kelty and you want to get the bragging rights.'

Steelend Victoria lost 4-1 at Lochore with Mark Sherry scoring the Vics" consolation.

Saturday"s fixtures: East Super Bukta Teamwear.com League – Kelty Hearts v Hill of Beath Hawthorn. East Premier Bukta Teamwear.com League – Dundee North End v Oakley United. East Central Bukta Teamwear.com League – Bankfoot Athletic v Crossgates Primrose, Steelend Victoria v St Andrews United, Lochore Welfare v Rosyth Recreation.