East of Scotland League, Premier Division: Crossgates Primrose 4 Hill of Beath Hawthorn 1

ALAN CAMPBELL has insisted that he's treating Saturday as "nothing more" than a good win as Crossgates enjoyed derby day delight.

His 10-man side recovered from a half-time deficit to overwhelm near neighbours Hill of Beath Hawthorn in a sparkling second 45 minutes to secure a memorable victory at Humbug Park.

Ryan Connelly fired the Haws ahead in the 25th minute and, a couple of minutes later, Craig McGuire was shown red for the hosts.

Campbell's side, however, came out flying at the start of the second half, with Archie Campbell drawing them level, and Darren Aitken giving them the lead on the hour mark.

A superb victory, in front of a crowd of 260, was sealed thanks to an own goal from the Haws keeper and a debut strike from Cammy Muirhead, thrilling everyone connected to the club.

"I tend not to think about local derbies; I tend to block all that out and think it's another three points," Campbell said.

"I think we did that quite well all week. We've got a lot of boys in our team that aren't from Crossgates so they don't really know what the rivalry is, and I think that's quite a good thing because they just remained calm all week.

"We trained well, we had a game plan – obviously it went out the window a wee bit with the sending-off – but the boys carried out quite a professional job in the end and won quite well.

"It's a good win, but nothing more than that."

Campbell added: "I thought we played really well on the day and thoroughly deserved the three points, no doubt about that.

"I thought the first half was pretty even, you could maybe even say they slightly shaded it, but we weren't too concerned at half-time. We were quite positive; even though we had 10 men, we kept two up front and we knew the chances would come. I have to say, the guys in the second half just took it up a level.

"We were clinical and just kind of blew them away almost. We could've had another couple."

Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale 2 Crossgates Primrose 2, East of Scotland League, Premier Division

A LAST-GASP penalty denied Primrose a second successive win on Wednesday night as Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale twice fought back to draw.

A Scott Lawrie free-kick, which was aided by a deflection, from the edge of the area gave Crossgates the lead after 10 minutes, only for Joe Murray to scramble home a leveller just after the half hour mark.

Brian Ritchie's header from an excellent free-kick into the box looked to have won it for Primrose with eight minutes to go, but Errol Douglas' stoppage time penalty - given for handball - salvaged a point for Thistle.

The result leaves Crossgates seventh in the table, with 15 points from 10 matches played.

East of Scotland League, Premier Division: Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts 1 Dundonald Bluebell 1

GREIG SPENCE was Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts' hero once more as he rescued a last-gasp Fife derby draw against Dundonald Bluebell.

The experienced hitman met Pat Scullion's flighted pass ahead of the visiting goalkeeper to head beyond him and secured a point after Lewis McKenzie's goal looked to have won it for the Bluebell.

It extended Swifts' unbeaten league run to five matches – the previous four of which had ended in victory – and sees them sit sixth in the table with 15 points from their opening nine matches.

Manager Grant Brough, who had eight players absent from his squad, said: "It was a fairly even game. I think we struggled a wee bit; we had some key players missing in some key areas.

"Don't get me wrong, the boys' effort and workrate was still there. I feel we've played better this season, put it that way.

"When you think you've got eight players missing, and you're still turning up to the game and competing with a side like Dundonald, it's testament to our way of thinking and the boys' way of thinking."

On Spence, Brough added: "He's loving it to be fair to him. It was a good header, and a good ball from Pat, and I think on the balance of play a draw would've been a fair result.

"It's a tough league. I keep on saying to the boys that we can't get too ahead of ourselves, we can't suddenly think we're a team because the minute we start doing that is the minute we'll start slipping up.

"We just need to stay on it."

Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts 2 Blackburn United 2, East of Scotland League, Premier Division

GREIG SPENCE believes that it is a sign of how far Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts have progressed that there was an air of disappointment after a comeback draw with Blackburn United.

The experienced striker grabbed a double in an keenly contested clash with the West Lothian outfit on Wednesday night, securing a point with a late leveller.

Spence fired the Swifts ahead from close range after only three minutes and, within the first quarter of an hour, they could have added to their tally, with Blackburn's keeper twice denying them with good stops - one of which was particularly spectacular from the impressive Liam Kelly - whilst they also struck the post.

Blackburn equalised with 20 minutes gone, when Campbell headed home, and they also had a goal chalked off for offside as they worked their way back into the contest.

Chances were rarer in the second half but, when Hutton's tidy finish after a good move down the right put the visitors ahead with 20 minutes to go, it looked like the Swifts were slipping to defeat.

However, with nine minutes left, lovely play from Kelly on the left saw him find Spence in the penalty area, and the striker made no mistake with a fine finish to earn a point.

"We've started like a house on fire. First 30 minutes it's all us, chance after chance, lose a goal, but then I think it shows how we've came as a team, as a club, that we're disappointed coming off at 2-2 at the end," Spence told Press Sport afterwards.

We see these games as winnable games. We're eight unbeaten and we're coming off with a wee chip on our shoulder thinking we can do better.

"It's only going to breed that mentality that it's all about winning games and picking up points, and in this league, there's no easy games.

"Every week's a battle. It's good teams, good players we're playing."

Experienced team mate, Pat Scullion, commented: "I thought we had good chances first half, and then we got done by a set play. It was poor to lose a goal from a set play and then, in the second half, they score a good goal a bit against the run of play.

"But the boys, that's eight unbeaten, have shown good character to come back and get something from the game. In the last 10 minutes I thought we were going to nick another one, but over the piece, I thought we did alright."

Dunfermline Press:

East of Scotland League, First Division, Conference B: Newburgh Juniors 0 Oakley United 6

SIX of the best in a second-half power play saw Oakley United notch up their fifth league win of the season at Newburgh.

After a scoreless first half, in which assistant boss Peter Kelly conceded that they struggled to create opportunities, the Blairwood Park side turned on the style to race to victory.

Within four minutes of the restart, Stuart Love and Stephen Day had put Stewart Kenny's visitors two goals up, which Love added to with his second of the day midway through the half.

He completed his hat-trick with five minutes remaining, before Ross Gruar and the returning Mark Mooney added further gloss to the scoreline.

The result leaves Oakley in fifth place, two points behind leaders Preston Athletic, and Kelly said: "It was a good win in the end.

"We struggled in the first half to put anything together; there was no cohesion and we struggled to make chances.

"In the second half, we started to play football. We moved the ball sharper, moved it quicker, and the quality of our finishing was better. It looked easy on paper but it wasn't.

"In the second half, there were lots of positives; our attitude and tempo changed.

"It was definitely a game of two halves for us."

Meanwhile, Rosyth's match at Arniston Rangers was postponed due to the Rec reporting positive COVID cases within their squad.

Saturday's fixtures (kick-offs 2.30pm unless stated):– East of Scotland League, Premier Division: Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts v Broxburn Athletic (2pm), Crossgates Primrose v Jeanfield Swifts. First Division, Conference A: Rosyth v Ormiston. Challenge Cup, first round: Kilsyth Athletic v Oakley United (2pm).