Published: Wednesday, 31st December, 2008 8:45am

Kelty Hearts give derby rivals a Christmas stuffing

by Simon Harris

Comments (0) | Print | Email

KELTY HEARTS benefited from a Boxing Day training session to beat fierce rivals Hill of Beath in Saturday"s derby.

Stevie Leighton"s men asked the gaffer if they could come in for a light session on Friday to work off their Christmas dinner and it paid off as Kelty cruised to a 3-1 win in a typically stormy encounter.

Sub John Martin gave Kelty the lead on 32 minutes and John Rushford made it two with 20 minutes remaining.

Then the Haws were reduced to nine men and the Jambos wrapped things up with a third goal from Scott Lawrie with six minutes to go.

Kelty"s Dean Droudge was then sent off alongside the Haws" Stephen Bathgate, to leave the visitors down to eight men before they scored a consolation goal in injury time.

For Leighton it was the perfect pick-me-up as the manager"s father- in-law died at the weekend.

'It"s been a hard Christmas,' Leighton admitted.

'I told the players before the game that it hadn"t been the best of Christmases for me and asked if they could help make it better. They were brilliant.

"They asked if they could come in for a light session on Boxing Day and I was more than happy to make myself available for that.

'They ended the session feeling great and when it came to Saturday they just seemed bigger and stronger than Hill of Beath.

"We were 3-0 up and, honestly, it could have been seven.'

Leighton"s counterpart, Jock Finlayson, was unhappy with the officials, claiming the big decisions all went against his side but the Kelty boss said, 'Maybe the big decisions did go against them but I just felt we were never in any real danger.

'We worked hard for the result and I am 100 per cent confident we still would have got the three points.

"We just seemed to dominate in the major areas.'

It"s a sign of how much Oakley have improved under new boss Stevie Kay that they were disappointed to come away from Dundee North End with just a draw on Saturday.

Lee Celentano bagged another goal to give them the lead before Stuart Innes hit the post for the West Fifers.

North End equalised early in the second half and both teams ended with 10 men, with Oakley"s Greg Sinclair sent off five minutes from time.

'We"ve had two goals chalked off, hit the post and missed a couple of one-on-ones,' Kay told Press Sport.

'We"ve come away with a point but we feel robbed.'

Rosyth won 3-1 at Lochore to remain six points clear of St Andrews at the top of the table.

Striker Alan McDonough scored another two to give his side a 2-0 lead before Lochore pulled one back from a free kick. Colin Brown sealed the three points with a header.

Steelend put up a brave fight at Rosyth"s title rivals, St Andrews, taking a shock lead through Darren Seath but ended up losing 5-1.

Goals from Robert Fyfe and Lee Emslie, later sent off, gave Crossgates a 2-0 win at Bankfoot.

Saturday"s fixtures: Bukta Teamwear.com East Super League – Lochee United v Kelty Hearts. Bukta Teamwear.com East Premier League – Oakley United v Carnoustie Panmure. Bukta Teamwear.com East Central League – Crossgates Primrose v Rosyth Recreation, Steelend Victoria v Kirkcaldy YM. Kick-offs 1.45pm.