King Cup quarter-final: Ormiston 1 Crossgates Primrose 2

PROUD Alan Campbell has called on his Primrose players to “push one more time” and take the club to a first final in more than 20 years.

Not since a Kingdom Cup final with Newburgh in 1995 have Crossgates been 90 minutes from silverware but, thanks to Graeme Nutt and Darren Aitken, they are one game away from the King Cup showpiece.

Their last four clash – the draw for which took place last night (Wednesday), and handed them an away tie with either Newtongrange Star or Tranent – in eight days’ time will be their first semi appearance since 2002, when they reached that stage in both the Fife and Cowdenbeath cups.

They had to do it the hard way in East Lothian however as Ormiston, who finished bottom of East of Scotland League Conference C, took a shock ninth minute lead, but Nutt’s superb effort on the half hour brought the visitors level. Aitken then turned the tie on its head four minutes later and, although Mark Forbes was ordered off six minutes after the break for fouling an opponent as he broke forward just over the halfway line, Primrose saw it through.

“We didn’t start well and deservedly went behind,” Campbell said.

“We knew we were in for a tough game after that but our full back, Graeme Nutt, scored an unbelievable goal out of the blue.

“It probably needed something like that to kick-start us, and then we got another goal before half-time.

“We were looking to kill the game off early in the second half but we went down to 10 men. I thought the red card was harsh but we just have to take it on the chin.

“The players though really dug in after that, defended well and had a few chances on the break. They rallied together and found a way to get through so I’m really happy with them.”

He added: “Someone told me it’s 17 years since the club’s been in a semi-final so it’s certainly a good achievement to get this far.

“We have to ask the players to push one more time and see if we can get through to the final.”

The other semi-final will be between Musselburgh Athletic or Linlithgow Rose and Bonnyrigg Rose or Bo'ness United.

McBookie.com Premier League South: Livingston United 4 Rosyth 0

ROSYTH’S league campaign came to a disappointing end as they were well beaten by league runners-up Livingston United.

Despite a promising start, Brian Muirhead’s team, who defeated Bathgate Thistle in a Consolation League Cup tie last Wednesday, found themselves 3-0 down at half-time.

They conceded another after the break, with Callum Mitchell (2), Danny Clancy and Tony Jaconelli on target for the hosts, and Muirhead said: “We didn’t turn up.

“In the first 15 minutes, we looked comfortable but lost Karl Higgins after he jarred his knee, and then they ran riot for 15 minutes and we found ourselves 3-0 down at half-time. It’s been a long, hard season and they had more legs. I’ve only got 18 or 19 in in my squad, which will need to be rectified.”

Rosyth played their final game of the season last night at Whitburn, and they lost 3-0 in their final Consolation Cup match.

Darren Liddell gave the home side a 12th minute lead but the visitors spurned a chance to equalise before the break from the spot.

Liddell grabbed his second quickly after the restart before Gary Brass put the result beyond doubt on the hour mark.