Crossgates Primrose lose out to Hill of Beath as Rosyth beat Oakley

PRIMROSE boss Alan Campbell felt his injury-hit side lost the battle as Hill of Beath Hawthorn took the honours in Saturday's derby.

The visitors, who the following day announced the appointment of Newburgh boss Allan Moody as their new manager, bringing Kevin Fotheringham's temporary stint in charge to an end, were three goals to the good by half-time thanks to a Jordan Tosh double and Brandon Luke.

It was a first league defeat in four for the home side, and Campbell commented: "We played them a couple of times last year, and you've got to be up for derby games. We were and I thought we won the battle in both games.

"On Saturday, Hill of Beath won the battle and looked the hungrier team in the first half.

"We're decimated with injuries at the moment, and picked up another couple during the game, so we had to change things about. We were so disjointed in the first half it wasn't true.

"They were the hungrier team, they took their chances, and were deserved winners. We had a couple of half chances, and in the second half we were a lot better, but we never looked like scoring.

"The two who went off are really physical players and, in a derby game, you need that."

He added: "We had a brilliant win at Penicuik (last Tuesday) so the performance on Saturday was a wee bit surprising on the back of that.

"We've got a two week break now which gives us a chance to clear some injuries.

"It's been a mixed bag in terms of the start to the season. Consistency is what we're looking for but, once we have players back, hopefully that will make us stronger. We'll use the break as a mini pre-season."

Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts 3 Broxburn Athletic 7, East of Scotland League, Premier Division

SWIFTS boss bemoaned the loss of "easy goals" as his side lost out to Broxburn Athletic in a high-scoring match on Saturday.

The hosts, who lost 2-0 at home to Haddington Athletic last Wednesday evening, were beaten for a third successive league match as the free-scoring visitors hit seven.

Two goals inside the opening 15 minutes put Broxburn in control and, although Dale Mason halved the deficit, a third goal just before the break restored their two-goal advantage.

Dair's men then lost three more within 15 minutes of the restart and, although they pulled one back through a trialist, Broxburn added another, before Owen Reid struck a late consolation for Inverkeithing.

"We were obviously disappointed with the result. There were good parts in the game but, ultimately, we gave away too many easy goals to them," Dair said.

"I was quite impressed by them to be fair. They're a big, strong, experienced side and I can't see them being far away at the end of the season, but we definitely gifted them too many cheap goals. That was the biggest disappointment.

"We lost two easy goals at the start. We got ourselves back into at 2-1, and it looked like we were going to go in that way at half-time, and then lost a goal right on half-time again.

"We looked to come out at the start of the second half, keeping it tight and maybe sneaking one to put us back in the game. There wasn't a lot in it at that point, but then we lost two goals at the start of the second half, and then it was just trying to control the damage after that."

Oakley United 2 Rosyth 3, East of Scotland League, First Division

STEVIE CRAWFORD began his Rosyth reign in the best possible fashion as they fought back from two goals down to earn a stirring Fife derby win at Oakley United.

In an action-packed encounter at Blairwood Park, Sean Preston's double inside the opening 17 minutes put Peter Goldie's hosts in command, but Matthew Gallagher quickly pulled one back for the visitors.

With the contest moving towards its final quarter-of-an-hour, Jason Penman's penalty pulled Rosyth level, before Marc Sludden completed a superb fightback with 11 minutes to go.

It was an ideal start for Crawford who, prior to the match, said of taking on the role at the club: "They're ambitious but they're not saying we're going to be doing this, we're going to be doing that, or setting the heather alight.

"They've got targets, like every club should have, and they'll have short term aims. It's always a strange time when you go into a club as a manager, especially during the season, so the players right away will be a little bit unsettled, but I think they're looking forward to it.

"Definitely being Rosyth, a local side, it ticked massive boxes in where I saw myself. Every manager's job will be as challenging as the next one."

Home counterpart Goldie saw himself red-carded for protesting a tackle made by Rosyth's Callum Strang, who earned his side their spot-kick, for what he felt was a challenge that merited a sending off.

That was one of several decisions that disappointed the Oakley boss - one of which being a spot-kick claim of their own, whilst they were leading 2-1, and he said: "It's two massive turning points in the game.

"Credit to them; they've taken their chances when they've come. I said to the guys at full-time that you need to take it out of the officials hands. We can't be relying on decisions to go for us.

"First half we were excellent. First half we scored two really good goals. We didn't look in danger at all, defensively I thought we were solid, but we just couldn't get that third goal to kill the game off.

"The decisions have then went against us and it's come back to bite us, which is a wee bit frustrating. When you're down there, nothing seems to your way, and that was the feeling."

Saturday's fixtures (kick offs 2pm): South Challenge Cup, second round: Ashfield v Oakley United, Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts v Kennoway Star Hearts.