JUNIOR FOOTBALL – PA TUESDAY OCTOBER 4

Oct 4 2011 Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

JEANFIELD Swifts and their Scottish Cup first round opponents Aberdeen East End produced what must rank as one of the most pulsating cup ties they have been involved in after battling out a 13-goal thriller.

All credit to Swifts, who looked to be heading for a first round exit as they trailed by 4–1 in the early minutes of the second half.

They mounted a tremendous fightback to go on and win 8–5 and move forward to the second round draw.

Swifts were 2–1 down after 15 minutes, with Darren Lewis and Ross Durno the scorers.

Tony Holt reduced the leeway for Swifts in 37 minutes but four minutes later Jason Reid restored East End’s two-goal lead when he made it 3–1 for them and that’s how the sore stood at the interval.

A couple of minutes into the second half and Swifts went 4–1 behind – Ryan Whelan was the scorer.

This further setback seemed to galvanise the Swifts as they turned the game on its head when they rampaged their way into a 6–4 lead by the 76th minute, with goals from John Anderson, Tony Holt, Arron Whitehead, followed by a further two goals from Anderson and Holt.

East End didn’t take this turn around in fortunes lying down as they fought back to reduce the leeway to 6–5 with a goal from Jordan Reid, his second of the game, in 80 minutes.

Any hopes East End had of squaring the game were soon blown away as five minutes later the irrepressible Tony Holt, with his fourth goal of the game, made it 7–5 and a couple of minutes later Jon Kelly put the icing on the cake with goal number eight, to cap what was a quite amazing comeback from the Swifts.

Luncarty were also engaged in a Scottish Cup first round tie, they were away to Lochee United and the Super League side went on to trounce the never say die Bleachers to the tune of 7–0.

There were two all Perthshire encounters in the preliminary round of the GA Cup. Coupar Angus were at home to Kinnoull, while Blairgowrie were hosts to Bankfoot. This game was played at Scone Thistles Farquharson Park and it ended 3–1 in the Bankies favour.

Blairgowrie came close to taking the lead in this game when they created two chances in the space of two minutes.

The first of those fell to Danny Millar in 14 minutes and then to Chris Farquharson in 16 minutes and on both occasions while their efforts were right on target they were brilliantly saved by Bankies goalkeeper David Rice and this proved to be most fortuitous for Bankies as 10 minutes later they had gone 2–0 ahead.

The first of those goals was scored by their striker Alan Stewart making his first appearance after being sidelined for some weeks with an injury and he showed he had lost none of his predatory skills with an opportunist goal.

Donald McDonald played a great ball down the right to David Fyfe, he in turn crossed into the Blair penalty box to Alan Stewart, who was facing the wrong way but spun round and from 15 yards he cracked the ball past the Blair keeper.

Alan Stewart also had a hand in Bankies second goal when he picked up a through ball and laid off a pass to Ross Mitchell who fired it into the corner of the net from inside the penalty box.

Blair, although behind, were always in the game and they almost pulled one back five minutes before the interval when a Danny Millar shot that seemed netbound came rattling back off the bar.

Midway through the second half Bankies lost possession of the ball in the midfield and it was played out to a Blair player out on the right.

His cross into the Bankies goalmouth was met by Steven Harris at the back post and he side footed it past keeper Rice from five yards.

Blair were back in the game and they strived hard for the equaliser.

The Bankies finally clinched their place in the next round when in the last minute of the game Danny Dobbie was brought down just outside the Blair penalty box and the resultant free kick, which was taken by Jordan Brown, took a deflection off a defender and it left the keeper stranded and the ball landed in the back of the net to make it 3–1 for the Bankies.

Coupar Angus were at home to Kinnoull who were making their first appearance in the GA Cup for some time and they went on to celebrate with a resounding win over their hosts who were surprised to find themselves ahead after just four minutes thanks to an own goal. Gavin Tinley was the scorer with a misguided passback from around 40 yards.

Kinnoull responded immediately to this unexpected setback and within a couple of minutes they were back on level terms when a cross from David Carr was met by Richard Doig who beat the keeper with a header from close range.

Richard Doig made it 2–1 for Kinnoull, he finished off a Sean Fleming, Adam O’Conner move when he side footed the ball into the back of the net from the edge of the six yard box and the striker went on to complete his hat trick 10 minutes later when he connected with a corner from David Carr to make it 3–1 and that’s how the score stood at the interval.

Gavin Tinley atoned somewhat for his early own goal blunder when he made it 4–1 for Kinnoull in the opening minutes of the second half and their lead was increased when a pass from Gary Fraser left Chris Webster with an easy chance midway through the half which he converted to make it 5–1.

With the game in its final minutes Calum McKinlay finished off a good move between Drew Fleming and Keith Dewar when he clipped the ball over the keeper and it landed in the back of the net via the far post to make it 6–1.

Coupar were obviously under the cosh for most of the game but all credit to them as they stuck to their task.

SATURDAY’S results:Emirates Scottish Junior Cup first round – Jeanfield Swifts 8, Aberdeen East End 5; Lochee United 7, Luncarty 0.

GA Engineering Cup preliminary round – Blairgowrie 1, Bankfoot 3; Coupar Angus 1, Kinnoull 6.