Oakley fightback delights Dair
Graham Gibson • Published 14 Sep 2012 09:11
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OAKLEY gaffer Jason Dair hailed the character of his side after they produced a stirring second-half fightback to see off Fife rivals Glenrothes on Saturday.
A Charlie Scarborough double and a Dale Finnie strike secured a 3-1 victory for the West Fifers after they were a goal down at the break.
After a disappointing League Cup campaign the Blairwood Park side have shown their mettle to pick up four points from their first two Premier League games.
However, after gifting Tayport a two-goal lead and falling behind again on Saturday Dair warned his team they needed to be quicker out of the blocks.
He told Press Sport, "I was delighted with the win. We didn't start too great again and they managed to score when the ball fell kindly after a corner. It wasn't the best half of football from both teams.
"In the second half we came out and played a bit better and created a few more chances and scored three good goals, all from crosses.
"We have to learn to start better though, especially against the better teams, or we're going to end up being three or four down and no chance to come back.
"Overall the lads have shown great character after a bad start to the last two games."
His squad will face a stiff test this weekend as they host Dundee Violet, the only team left with a 100 per cent record.
"The game will be really tough as they have had a great start to their campaign, picking up wins against Newtongrange and Ballingry, two of the favourites for the title," Dair said.
"Hopefully we can give a good account of ourselves and continue our recent improvement after a difficult League Cup."
Kelty hosted St Andrews (match action pictured) in their first home game this season and the visitors made it a difficult day for the Jambos, who eventually ran out 4-2 winners.
Double strikes from Damon Gray and Brian Ritchie secured victory, though manager Keith Burgess was far from happy with his side's performance.
A sluggish start by Kelty saw the Saints take the lead. The West Fifers responded well and began to take the game to the visitors, with Ritchie finishing a great move to make it 1-1.
With 35 minutes on the clock Kelty went in front when Gray scored the goal of the game with a classy, curling effort into the top corner.
In the second period St Andrews again started the brighter and equalised, forcing Kelty to up the ante.
They again responded and the same duo netted two more goals to give the West Fifers all three points.
Gaffer Burgess knows his side will have to up their game when they visit champions Bonnyrigg Rose this weekend, admitting, "We had to work very hard but we did not really play that well."
Rosyth continued their winning streak by thumping Luncarty 8-0 at home in the Central League.
Tam Hampson opened the scoring before setting up Tam Graham just before half-time.
The Recreation Park side then added six goals in the second half through Tam Graham getting his second, Alan McDonough (2), Craig Paterson (2) and captain Iain Griffin.
Crossgates found the going hard against Scone but they managed to grind out a 2-1 victory.
Kyle Brand was on the mark early for Crossgates but Thistle kept working away and got the equaliser.
Scone had other chances as Primrose had to work hard but the home side regained the lead with a good finish from Steven Stark.
The second half saw Scone battling to get back into the game and only good defending by Primrose kept the visitors out. Steelend lost 4-0 at Kirkcaldy.
Saturday's fixtures: East Super League - Bonnyrigg Rose v Kelty Hearts; East Premier League - Oakley Utd v Dundee Violet; East Central League - Bankfoot v Crossgates, Steelend Vics v Kinnoull; ACA Sports League Cup - Rosyth v Lochgelly Albert.
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