Published: Thursday, 5th March, 2009 11:29am

Injury hit Kelty almost pay the penalty

by Simon Harris

Comments (2) | Print | Email

AN injury-ravaged Kelty Hearts scraped past Jeanfield Swifts on penalties in the Redwood Leisure Cup on Saturday.

Having crashed out of two cup competitions to lower league sides recently, Hearts boss Stevie Leighton was relieved to have gone through but hopes the injury problems that hampered his side at the weekend don"t undermine the Jambos" challenge for the Super League title.

There are eight games left to play in the Super League, starting at Whitburn on Saturday, but against Jeanfield Leighton was without the services of his son, Garry, as well as Scott Lawrie, Dene Droudge, Kevin Webster, Craig Morrison, John Rushford and Gordon Findlay while strikers John Martin and Ian Mauchlan picked up injuries during the game.

Graeme Findlay had given Kelty the lead early in the second half of the cup tie but Swifts equalised and the game went to penalties, with 17 kicks converted successfully before Swifts finally missed to send Hearts through.

'We"re having a shocker with injuries again,' Leighton told Press Sport.

'I only had 12 players on Saturday and some of them were not fit. I thought that was all behind us but we"re having some bad luck again.

'I don"t know what it"s going to be like for the weekend.

'It"s probably the worst season I"ve had injuries-wise and with big games coming up it"s a bit of a concern. It"s like casualty down there at the minute.

'But when we"ve been down to the bare bones earlier in the season we"ve been able to get some good results.'

Kelty have gone down to second after Bonnyrigg beat Linlithgow on Saturday to go top and Leighton admitted the Whitburn clash was a 'massive' game.

Also facing a huge game on Saturday are relegation-threatened Oakley United, who entertain fellow strugglers Blairgowrie boosted by a 4-0 win over Dundee East Craigie last weekend in the Redwood Cup.

Two goals from Colin Mullen and one each from Lee Celentano and Greg Sinclair gave Oakley the cup win but retaining their Premier League status is manager Stevie Kay"s priority.

Blairgowrie are bottom, four points and four places below Oakley, who are perched above the drop zone, but with six games in hand on the West Fifers.

'Forget about six-pointers, this game is a nine-pointer,' Kay said.

'This is a must-win game and I have almost a full squad to pick from.'

Rosyth Recreation are refusing to surrender the league despite losing their top-of-the-table clash at St Andrews on Saturday 2-1.

Recs remain a point clear of St Andrews in first but their rivals now have two games in hand.

Co-boss Jock Lumsden told Press Sport, 'We are not going to throw in the towel.

'We still believe we can do it. There will be points dropped between now and the end of the season and we have got to keep winning games.'

Rosyth had gone in 1-0 up at half time after Brian Vaughan had given the visitors the lead. But a penalty given against Clark Kay for hand-ball changed the game and the home side grabbed the winner four minutes from time.

'It was very disappointing,' Lumsden said. 'We totally dominated the first half and that"s coming from their manager. They put us under a bit of pressure in the second half but we coped with it well.

'The ball bounced up and hit the defender"s hand and it was a soft penalty. That changed the game and they grew in confidence from there.'

Elsewhere, Steelend Victoria finally secured their first victory of the season, beating Lochgelly Albert 2-1 at home with goals from Andy Watt and Darren Seath to lift them off the foot of the East Central League table.

Crossgates went out of the Redwood Cup on penalties to Blairgowrie after a 2-2 draw. Mark Pagliarulo and Ross Sneddon had given Primrose the lead but Blairgowrie equalised after Crossgates had Lee Emslie sent off.

***

Saturday"s fixtures: East Region Super League – Whitburn v Kelty Hearts. East Region Premier League – Oakley United v Blairgowrie. East Region Central League – Steelend Victoria v Rosyth Recreation, Thornton Hibs v Crossgates Primrose. (Kick-offs 2.30pm.)