Kelty Hearts 2 Peterhead 1

JOE CARDLE said he was relieved after he bagged the 100th goal of his senior career to hand Kelty Hearts victory on Saturday.

The 36-year-old, whose only other strike this season came in a win over Falkirk in September, struck in stoppage time as the 'Maroon Machine' ended their home fixtures in League One with three points against Peterhead.

On-loan Heart of Midlothian defender Arron Darge, with his second in as many games, gave John Potter's side a 51st minute lead, but Josh Oyinsan levelled for a Blue Toon outfit that still harboured faint hopes of avoiding automatic relegation.

Former Pars star Cardle's stoppage-time winner, however, condemned them to the drop, and ensured outgoing boss Potter enjoyed victory in his final home game in charge.

Dunfermline Press:

"It's more of a relief to be honest," Cardle (pictured above) said of his landmark effort.

"I think it's been ongoing for a while now and, as you can imagine, most people talk about it, and mention it every day.

"I'm just glad to get it over the line. It's been ongoing in my head, and even the family have been speaking about it recently as well.

"I'm just glad it's done. More importantly, we got the three points as well.

"I'm just delighted that I played my part; came on at half-time, scored one and set one up, so it's been a good day all round."

Potter commented: "I'm delighted for him.

"He's been frustrated with it. He's had chances in a lot of games to get that goal, and he's been waiting on it, so it's probably been weighing on his mind a little bit. He deserves it.

"I know it's an individual accolade, but I'm glad he got it. It's a nice time to get it, the last home game, and late on in the game."

Kelty end their campaign at Queen of the South this Saturday, in what will be the final game in charge for Potter, who is departing the club at the end of the campaign, alongside managing director and general manager, Dean McKenzie, and sporting director, Andrew Barrowman.

He added: "We've actually played ok for the last wee while.

"There have been a lot of draws in there, and look, we've played better this season. We've played ok at times – again, created enough to win games, but didn't put them away – but, scoring the late goal was obviously really good, and delighted to get the win.

"We have, in the main, created chances. It's not as if we've not created -we've just not put them away at the right times. I think anyone that's watched us would probably say the same that, in a lot of games, we've played ok, but when we get the chances, we need to put them away.

"I understand it's the hardest bit to do in football, and we've not done it well enough this year as a group, but we did it on Saturday.

"When we got the chances, we took them, and when we did that, we managed to win the game."