Football Round-up: Swifts boss McCrindle wins first game

NEW Swifts boss Jason McCrindle hailed his players as "absolutely fantastic" after they delivered a victory in his first competitive match in charge.

Aaron Wood's double either side of half-time ended a run of three games without a win for the hosts as former Luncarty boss McCrindle enjoyed the perfect start to his tenure.

Following the departure of Jason Dair, he was appointed to the role last month, but had to wait for his league dugout debut, after a scheduled Fife derby with Hill of Beath Hawthorn the previous week was postponed.

It proved worth the wait, however, for McCrindle, who commented: "It was really good. I think the boys were excellent. We could still be playing now and they would be determined not to lose that game.

"The mentality of the game wasn't not to lose it, but the messages were to go and win it and try and be positive. The boys were absolutely fantastic and I think they deserve all the credit.

Jason McCrindle was delighted with his players' efforts on Saturday. (Image: David Wardle.)

"We've been working really hard in the last three weeks. When somebody new comes in, you're just obviously trying to get your own ideas across, so I didn't think it was too dissimilar to what they've done before. It was really just trying to get my messages across, and the sessions themselves have been quite intense in the last week leading up to Saturday.

"I played Penicuik previously with my last club, we knew how good they were, but it was just about us trying to impose what we wanted to do in the game, and then to try and carry out the information that they were given.

"That's where the players deserve all the credit."

Jeanfield Swifts 5 Crossgates Primrose 0, East of Scotland League, Premier Division

ALAN CAMPBELL has admitted he may have to make changes to his Primrose squad after claiming they "capitulated" at Jeanfield Swifts.

The Humbug Park outfit slumped to their fourth successive defeat, and sit just one place above the bottom three, after a heavy defeat in Perth.

Crossgates boss Campbell felt that the first half-an-hour was "as well as we've played recently", and thought they could've had a penalty, but a spot-kick awarded against them in the 37th minute allowed Dayle Robertson to put the hosts ahead.

Fraser Smith made it two just before the interval and, despite having a couple of chances, the visitors conceded a third 20 minutes into the second half through Olly Hamilton.

Jordan Northcott and Patrick Brown completed a miserable day for Primrose, who have picked up just one point in eight games, and are without a win since beating Penicuk Athletic in September.

When asked if it was a case of picking his players up and maintaining belief their form will turn, Campbell replied: "I think it's past that stage. We're probably going to have to make a few changes to our squad. We've been performing relatively poorly now since January.

"If you look at our results, at this stage last season, we were second in the league, so we've had a bit of a drop-off around the whole club.

"Short-term, we're going to have to stick together and get some points on the board, but over the next four or five weeks we'll probably be making a few changes to our squad because we won't be accepting where we are in the league, and the run of results that we've had.

"It's just nowhere near good enough."

He added: "We were very disappointed with the result.

"It was a bit of a strange game. I think for large periods in the game, believe it or not, we did quite well. The first half an hour is as well as we've played recently. We were quite well organised, we carried a threat, a couple of times we could've scored, and we were sitting at half-time 2-0 down.

"We were scratching our heads a bit at half-time, how we were 2-0 down, but, again, the start to the second half was pretty good. We had a couple of chances ourselves, their keeper's made a couple of great saves, and then we got caught.

"The last half an hour we capitulated a bit. We went under and didn't really stand up. We made a few changes and tried to go for it, but the last half an hour was unacceptable from us. I didn't like to see it and we'll be making sure it doesn't happen again."

Rosyth 1 Dunipace 5, East of Scotland League, First Division

STEVIE CRAWFORD said that Rosyth "can't have any complaints" after they were convincingly defeated by Dunipace.

The second-top visitors proved too strong at the Fleet Grounds, racing into a 4-0 lead by half-time to send Crawford's side to a second successive defeat.

They came into the game having been knocked out of the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup by St Andrews United, at the third round stage, by a 4-1 scoreline in their last outing, on November 22, but hopes of a better day at the office soon evaporated.

Aidan Kemp got the ball rolling for Dunipace who, incredibly, found themselves three goals up after only five minutes following a quick-fire brace from Sam Colley.

Conor Kelly's free-kick made it 4-0 before the half hour mark, and Colley completed his hat-trick with just over 20 minutes to go.

Darren Ormiston's goal for Rosyth was scant consolation, and Crawford said: "Dunipace started the game brightly and gor in our faces, being more aggressive and energetic.

"After a bizarre opening five minutes, we managed to find ourselves 3-0 down. We then lost a fourth goal around about 30 minutes in, and we deservedly went in four goals down, although we did manage to hit the post in the first half.

"At half-time, we regrouped and came out with our focus on restoring some pride. We ended up losing the game 5-1, Darren Ormiston scoring a consolation for us after 75 minutes, but we were beaten by the better side on the day, and can't have any complaints about the result."

Saturday's fixtures: East of Scotland League, Premier Division: Crossgates Primrose v Penicuik Athletic (1pm), Kinnoull v Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts (1.30pm). First Division: Oakley United v Leith Athletic (1.30pm), Vale of Leithen v Rosyth (2.30pm).