KELTY HEARTS remain on target to retain their Super League title after a fourth successive win but Oakley United are in relegation bother after a Premier League setback against Forfar West End.

Kelty Hearts 3 Sauchie 1

HAT-TRICK hero Paul Currie’s solo show kept Kelty Hearts’ Super League title bid on track as they saw off Sauchie at Central Park.

Thomas Courts’ side made it seven league games unbeaten by winning their fourth on the trot in all competitions to turn up the heat on flag rivals Bo’ness United and Bonnyrigg Rose.

Since losing to Bonnyrigg in November, Kelty’s only loss has been their Scottish Junior Cup exit at Camelon.

Courts had warned pre-match that the Clackmannanshire side would be no pushovers and they made life difficult for the hosts, although Scott Dalziel and Stuart Cargill went close to grabbing the opening goal.

And with 15 minutes on the clock, they made the breakthrough when a long ball was played into Dalziel’s path, who in turn passed across the box for Currie to coolly finish.

Sauchie refused to crumble and nine minutes before the break, they grabbed an equaliser when veteran striker Ian Diack – formerly of Stenhousemuir, Brechin City and Berwick Rangers – raced clear of a static home defence to latch on to a long ball and calmly lob Kelty stopper Kyle Allison.

Within two minutes, Courts’ side were back in front when Shaun Greig released Scott Gates down the left, and his deflected cross was met by a diving Currie to powerfully head into the net.

Both sides had chances in the second period, with Devon Jacobs’ goalbound header brilliantly pushed over the bar, and with five minutes left the hosts wrapped up their sixth victory in seven games.

Gates’ cross was cleared only as far as Currie, who placed a low shot into the bottom corner to move Kelty to within two points of second placed Bonnyrigg, having played the same number of games, and four shy of Bo’ness but with four games in hand.

Oakley 0 Forfar West End 2

OAKLEY United’s hopes of Premier League survival suffered a severe blow as Forfar West End claimed victory at Blairwood Park.

James Watt’s side had ended a run of nine games without a win by beating fellow strugglers Montrose Roselea in their last outing but were powerless to stop the Angus visitors claiming all three points on Saturday.

Graeme Hart’s double did the damage for a Forfar side who, until Oakley’s win at Montrose, were the last to taste defeat at the hands of the West Fifers in league football when they fell to a 4-2 loss back in October.

Saturday’s loss was their 11th out of 20 games and they dropped into second bottom place after Dundee Violet leapt above them with a convincing 3-1 success over Falkirk.

With four teams facing the drop, Oakley are seven points clear of Thornton Hibs, having played two games more, but are a point behind Violet, who have played 18 games.

Montrose Roselea and Edinburgh United both have just five matches to go and 22 points, three ahead of Oakley, and look likely to be two of the sides facing the drop. But with a tough trip to second placed Haddington on Saturday, the Blairwood men will need a strong end to the season if they are to pull away from the drop zone.

Rosyth 2 Easthouses Lily MW 1

LEE Richardson was full of praise for young debutant Bailey Kay as Rosyth ended a four game losing streak on Saturday.

And the Recreation Park boss believes the future is bright for the club as he prepares to blood more up-and-coming talents in his first team between now and the end of the season.

Rosyth’s pre-season aspirations of promotion may have gone but their bid to finish the campaign strongly and take momentum into next year was given a boost with a comeback win over Easthouses that secured just a fifth victory in the South Division.

After an even opening period, the Midlothian visitors drew first blood a minute after half-time when a well-worked counter-attack saw Graeme Young fire the ball beyond Ross Wortley.

The home side roared back when outstanding winger Charlie Denton curled a superb free-kick into the bottom corner of the net with 20 minutes left.

Minutes later leading marksman Tam Hampson cut inside and lashed a superb shot beyond Steven Hay to win the game.

Richardson was keen to praise left-back Kay and said: “I gave Bailey his debut at left back. He’s been playing with our under-21s and I thought he was brilliant. It validates us putting the 21s team together because there are two or three there that I can see playing for us next season.

“Bailey has proved to them that if they’re good enough they can play. I’ll start blooding them in between now and the end of the season with a view to next season.

“I was chuffed with the way we played on Saturday; the first half was pretty even and then they broke a minute into the second half and made it 1-0. But we rolled our sleeves up, played really well and after Charlie scored we didn’t look like losing the game.

“We’ve got 11 games left, one in the cup against Penicuik, and I hope it gives the boys a lift and we can go on a wee run.”

Saturday’s fixtures (kick-offs 2.30pm): McBookie.com Super League – Linlithgow Rose v Kelty Hearts. McBookie.com Premier League – Haddington Athletic v Oakley United. McBookie.com South Division – Rosyth v Livingston United.