Jeanfield miss out on fourth round cup spot

Dec 30 2008 by Our Correspondent, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

JEANFIELD SWIFTS’ Scottish Cup hopes were brought to an end when they lost their third round replay with Dyce by 4-1.

Swifts had started off in a sprightly fashion and looked the more likely to open the scoring until midway through the half they found themselves a goal behind.

A long ball out of the Dyce defence found its way into the Swifts penalty box and it wasn’t dealt with due to a misunderstanding in Swifts defence and before they could recover Stuart Reid nipped in to connect and head the ball past Andy Mackie.

Swifts seemed to lose their composure after this and it was now Dyce who were doing most of the attacking and Swifts were firmly on the back foot.

Swifts suffered a double blow when they lost two goals in the space of a few minutes. Stuart Cole got the first in 35 minutes, followed by another from Kevin Neish in 39 minutes, giving Dyce a comfortable 3-0 lead at the break.

Three minutes into the second half Dyce increased their lead to 4-0, when Stuart Henderson scored but Swifts rallied and adopted a much more attacking mode and it was their turn to have their opponents on the back foot.

Swifts pulled a goal back in 59 minutes. A ball was crossed into the Dyce goalmouth and their defence failed to clear it and before they could get their act together David Thornton pounced and hooked the ball into the back of the net.

Swifts strived hard after this to further reduce the leeway but their cup hopes were at an end.

The Blairgowrie-Kinnoull Premier League clash at Davie Park got off to a flying start when Kinnoull opened the scoring after two minutes.

Neil Gardiner played a ball out to Chris Anton on the right wing who cut in on goal and laid the ball off to Mark Gordon who hit it into the back of the net from close range.

Blairgowrie shook off this setback and within five minutes were back on level terms.

Darren Neave hit a cross into the Kinnoull penalty box which should have been cleared but wasn’t and it fell to Ryan Menzies who scored from about eight yards with a powerful header.

Play surged from end to end with neither team gaining the upper hand. Then in 32 minutes Blair were reduced to 10 men when Jamie Duncan was given a red card after he disagreed with an off-side decision by the referee.

This knocked Blair out of their stride and they were forced on to the defensive and had their goalkeeper Gordon O’Brien to thank for keeping them on level terms up to the interval.

Kinnoull had the upper hand from the restart and they passed up a number of chances before they finally managed to stick one away in the 70th minute.

A combined move between Neil Gardiner and Dave Quinn, who had come on as a sub, produced a chance that Quinn was left to finish off. His shot from inside the penalty box was right on target. Keeper O’Brien could only parry and the ball broke to Steve McManus who was following up and he knocked the ball into the back of the net.

Blair came close to getting the equaliser when in one of their few raids on the Kinnoull goal Mark Christinson connected with a corner taken by Paul Ireland, but his header went inches over the bar.

Kinnoull more or less wrapped up the points when they increased their lead to 3-1 with what was undoubtedly the best goal of the game.

The ball was played out to Chris Anton on the right and he immediately made tracks for the Blair goal. Chris was about 25-30 yards from the goal when he let go a thundering drive which was right on target.

The Blair keeper Gordon O’Brien did well to get his finger tips to the ball and touch it on to the underside of the bar but he couldn’t stop it from landing in the back of the net.

Neil Gardiner put the icing on the cake for the Tulloch Park men when he scored with a header in the final minute to make it 4-1.

Scone Thistle and Luncarty met in the Central League at the RDM ground.

Thistle after two hefty successive defeats came bouncing back to win this game 3-1 and it was no more than they deserved as they were undoubtedly the better side on the day.

Thistle swept into the attack from the kick off and in little more than a minute they had forced two corners which came to nothing.

They continued on the attack and were awarded a free-kick just outside the Luncarty penalty box but it was blasted past the post.

Luncarty mounted their first attack of the game which won them a corner but it brought them no joy.

Thistle continued to have the bulk of the attacking play and they finally broke the deadlock in 25 minutes with what was a really excellent goal.

James Reid started the move that led up to the goal being scored.

The full-back played the ball through to Andy Smith who moved forward a few paces before playing the ball on to Scott McManus who was just inside the Bleachers’ penalty box.

Scott took the ball in his stride and no doubt the defenders between him and the goal thought he would have a go himself and were getting in position to try and block his shot.

But Scott flummoxed them as he cut the ball sideways to Callum McKinlay who had been left unmarked about 12 yards from the goal and he smacked the ball into the bottom corner from about 12 yards for a well taken goal.

Luncarty retaliated for a spell after this and they won a couple of corners but they came to nothing.

Thistle keeper Steve McKimmie was forced to go off in 38 minutes when he pulled a hamstring. His place was taken by sub keeper Dave Winton.

The second half followed much the same pattern as the first with Thistle doing the bulk of the attacking and in 65 minutes they deservedly increased their lead to 2-0.

Thistle won a corner which was taken and was knocked on by Jonnie Brown to Derek Adam who was just inside the Bleachers penalty box. The player/manager took it first time and his sweetly struck shot tore into the back of the Bleachers net.

Luncarty, although they were now three goals behind, to their credit kept battling away and in 79 minutes they reduced the leeway when their two subs Alan Bailey and Peter Gormley combined to score a good goal.

Bailey crossed from out on the right wing to Peter Gormley who was at the far post and the veteran striker beat keeper Winton with a well placed header to make it 3-1.

Luncarty full-back Graham Barnett was sent off in 83 minutes after picking up a second caution.

Bankfoot have been looking to bring in a new goalkeeper to replace Darren McGarry who is now in Australia, have secured the services of Mike ‘Chipper’ Whyte from Carnoustie. Chipper is an experienced keeper and made his debut for the Bankies against Crossgates Primrose at Coronation Park.

Bankies who were minus a number of players didn’t play well and lost by 2-0, both goals scored in the first half. Robert Fyfe got the first of those after 10 minutes with Lee Emslie getting the second midway through the half.

Bankies forward Barry Ward and Crossgates Lee Emslie were sent off after an 80th minute altercation.

Coupar Angus were at home in a North League game to East Craigie. Coupar found themselves a goal behind after three minutes.

Coupar set about getting back on level terms and did six minutes later with a goal from Ali Townsley.

Coupar were having the better of the exchanges and it was no surprise when they took the lead when Jacek ‘Jazz’ Ruszinsky scored.

Coupar imade it 3-1 in 70 minutes when Duncan Cocker connected with a cross from Richard Wheeler.