Alex Jack Cup, semi-final:

Oakley United 2 Dunbar United 1

STEWART KENNY has hailed his players as "fantastic" after they created history for Oakley United on Saturday.

The Blairwood Park boss said that they were "right to be overjoyed" after a second-half fightback saw them stun Dunbar United and reach their first final as a senior club in the Alex Jack Cup.

Without a home win so far this season, the East of Scotland Football League First Division Conference A hosts faced a visiting team operating in the Premier League and fell behind with just nine minutes gone.

Suggestions that Fraser McLaren's goal may have been offside were dismissed by the officials but, to their credit, Oakley refused to let it affect them.

Ross Gruar and Craig Martin both came close to finding an equaliser before the break, while Lee Halpin was frustrated by excellent goalkeeping in the second half.

But, with 18 minutes to play, Kenny's men did find a leveller.

Following a quick break up field, Martin found Dylan McGowan who, from the left, picked out Stuart Love just inside the visitors' penalty box to chest the ball down and send a fine half-volley into the bottom corner of the net.

Then, less than 90 seconds later, Oakley turned the tie on its head when McGowan, 25 yards from goal, cut inside from the left before curling home a superb shot to put his side within touching distance of the final.

Although Johnny Harrison was denied late on to put the tie out of sight, Oakley had done enough, and Kenny said: "The boys were fantastic.

"To show that character, to come back against higher opposition, was great.

"I thought that we were the better team. We scored two good goals and the whole team performance was excellent.

"It was good to get the monkey off our back at home, and to do it in such a big game was satisfying.

"It was brilliant and I'm really chuffed for the lads."

Musselburgh Athletic will provide the opposition on November 24 at a venue still to be decided, and Kenny added: "It gives the fans, the committee and the people behind the scenes a day out.

"Musselburgh will be a very tough nut to crack, and I'm sure they'll be favourites, but a final is usually about who wants it more. I think they'll give us the recognition that the boys deserve.

"But we've got two league games, against Craigroyston on Saturday and away on Tuesday at Dunipace, with a quick turnaround.

"Our plan is to try and take maximum points and get ourselves into a more realistic league position."

Scottish Lowland Football League:

East Stirlingshire 0 Kelty Hearts 1

NATHAN AUSTIN enjoyed a goalscoring return to one of his former stomping grounds and fired Kelty Hearts to the Lowland League summit on Friday night.

The 25-year-old, who joined from Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the summer, grabbed the only goal to edge out East Stirlingshire at the Falkirk Stadium as Barry Ferguson celebrated victory a year to the day that he replaced Thomas Courts in the New Central Park hotseat.

Austin, who plundered 12 goals during his spell as a Falkirk player, grabbed his 25th of the campaign at the ground the 'Shire share with the Bairns to move Kelty two points clear of previous pacesetters Bonnyrigg Rose.

Another ex-Bairn, Thomas Scobbie, also featured for the visitors in a defence that was without captain Murray Carstairs, who has relocated to the north of England through work.

In an opening 45 minutes that saw little to choose between the teams, the hosts' Jamie Dishington forced Ben Mackenzie into a smart near-post stop in the game's first real opening, while former Pars midfielder Evan Horne was off-target when trying his luck from range.

Chris Dodd fired over in response for Kelty but Mackenzie was on hand to produce a fine save from Nicky Low's header to prevent them going into the interval behind.

That stop proved significant as, just after the restart, Ferguson's men took the lead.

Gary Cennerazzo's looping cross to the far post was won by Scott Linton ahead of Dishington, with his flick falling to Stephen Husband, who moved away from two opponents with one piece of chest control. His shot across goal was pushed out by Jamie Barclay but fell kindly for Austin, who took his time before netting from six yards.

Kelty's talisman was inches away from a second moments later after Dylan Easton – playing his first 90 minutes in 11 weeks following injury – sent him in on goal, while Mackenzie reacted brilliantly to keep out substitute Sean Brown's header.

Although Low came close to a leveller with a free-kick, Kelty had done enough, and Ferguson commented: "We've played better probably, and so have East Stirling, but at the end of the day I said to the guys that I don't care how we get it, but we need to come in here at half-past-nine with three points, and be top of the league.

"Fash (Austin) has not trained all week – he's not trained from the Civil (Service Strollers) game. He's struggled a bit with his hamstring, and we've had him at the physio, and he came in and said he wanted to have a go. He wasn't the normal Fash but he's always capable of getting that goal."

McBookie.com South Premier League:

Rosyth 3 Linlithgow Rose CFC 1

BRIAN MUIRHEAD praised Rosyth's second-half performance after they fought back to defeat Linlithgow Rose CFC at the Fleet Grounds.

After falling behind to Robbie Lamb's 18th-minute header, in an opening period the Rec boss described as "timid", Sean Johnstone's leveller two minutes after the break was added to by Dale Prattis with six minutes to go.

Gregg Page's fine finish put the seal on the victory, which keeps Rosyth third in the table, eight points behind this weekend's visitors Stoneyburn, who are directly above them.

"We've had a hard couple of weeks, losing two on the bounce, and our performances dropped a bit," Muirhead said.

"On Saturday, in the first half, we were timid and it was like we were scared to make a mistake rather than to make something happen.

"We made a couple of tactical changes at half-time; my assistant, Dean Ogg, made a change in the middle of the park, and in the second half we started to run riot.

"The tempo was better, the pace of the game was better, our aggression levels were much better, and we created loads of chances. The two wide boys were two deep, so we pushed them on a bit, and it worked a treat.

"In the second half, we looked dangerous every time we went forward. Stuart Gibb probably had his best 45 minutes for us, and Barry (Sibanda) and Gregg up front were tremendous."

Muirhead, who has been boosted by news that Reece McLaren does not require surgery after a cruciate ligament injury, added: "Stoneyburn on Saturday is huge.

"We need to be in the top three at Christmas if we're to still be in the hunt so that's the target we've set the players."

Saturday's fixtures (kick-off 2.30pm unless stated): Scottish Lowland Football League – Kelty Hearts v BSC Glasgow (3pm). East of Scotland Football League, Premier Division – Tranent v Crossgates Primrose. First Division, Conference A – Oakley United v Craigroyston. Conference A/B – Haddington Athletic v Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts. McBookie.com South Premier League – Rosyth v Stoneyburn Juniors.