Crossgates exit King Cup to Lochore while Swifts suffer defeat

Lochore Welfare 2 Crossgates Primrose 2 (Welfare won 7-6 on penalties)

Crossgates went right to the wire as they fought for a spot in the second cup of the King Cup, but unfortunately fell short to Lochore Welfare.

Primrose opened the scoring with a neat finish from James McAteer, putting his side ahead in just eight minutes.

Lochore grew into the game not long after and created some good chances through Michael Watt, Lucas Reilly and Ciaran Healy.

Lochore substitute Joe Kirby would make an impact as he came off the bench, eventually being pulled down on the edge of the box to reduce Crossgates to 10 men.

Heartbreak struck for Crossgates as Gregg Page levelled the tie after the delivery from Page with four minutes to added time to send the tie to extra time.

“It was a difficult cup tie,” Alan Campbell, Crossgates manager, said. “I don’t think either team really totally deserved to win the game.

“We felt aggrieved because we were leading since the eighth minute and we scored quite early and led right into the injury.

NARROW: Crossgates fought hard to take the tie to penalties, with Lochore winning 7-6. (Image: David Wardle) “I don’t remember our keeper having a save to make in the whole 90 minutes so it was really disappointing to lose the goal so late.

“That’s kind of been our Achilles heel lately – losing late goals. They put all their balls into the box and they were fighting.

“When you’re ahead for that long, you’re just trying to see it out but they didn’t manage to do that.

“Things started to spiral after that but It’s things that were out of our control.”

Primrose’s day went from bad to worse as they were down to nine men following a foul on Lochore’s Brandon Callaghan.

Lochore would take the lead for the first time on Saturday when Kirby curled a free kick into the net – but Crossgates refused to lie down, levelling yet again through Lewis Anderson.

Campbell continued: “After that, we got two men ordered off after being red carded so we played the whole extra time with nine men.

“I couldn’t be more proud of their efforts to get through that. We actually scored with nine men to force penalties.

“I went from being really disappointed and deflated that we had to go to extra time to then be quite proud with how we handled that.”

“After a lot going against us with ordering offs, I couldn’t be more proud of them – they dug in and showed a lot of character to get to penalty kicks.”

Both sides missed penalties during the shootout, but Lochore would go on to win the tie 7-6 on spot kicks.

Campbell added: “Penalty kicks can be a bit of a lottery so we’re unfortunate to go out.

“Penalties aren’t something that you dwell on – the best players in the world miss penalties.

“We were a bit disappointed that the ordering offs left us short on that front – our goalkeeper had to take a penalty as well.

“A bit disappointed but I was really proud at how we handled the situation, we went back into our shape and defended really well.

“At one point, I thought we were going to score another with nine men. I’m a bit disappointed but we fought really hard.”

Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts 0 Camelon 4

The Swifts endured a heavy 4-0 defeat to Camelon in the East of Scotland First Division.

Heading into the game, the hosts were dealt a tough hand, with six first-team players absent through a variety of reasons.

Camelon arrived in Fife sitting top of the table and looked to extend their lead at the summit, which they did convincingly against Inverkeithing.

Swifts manager Gary Sibbald said: “Before we got to the game, we had a bad week in the build up – we had six players missing from the previous weekend because of holidays, injuries and a couple of guys leaving the club.

“We ended up starting the game with nine first-team players and two under-20s so it was always going to be a really challenging game.

“Swifts are a community club and we’re really proud of our pathway so it’s good that these younger guys are getting the chance to play.

“Taking on a top team, they just missed out on promotion last year and they’ve got a lot of players, even the subs they brought off the bench, the quality is evident.”

In the starting lineup, five under-20s players made appearances for the Swifts, including Ewan McDonald who was making his first start for the senior team.

Camelon took an early lead, putting the visitors ahead inside just 20 minutes. Swifts hoped to see out the half just a goal behind, but Camelon doubled their lead minutes before half time.

“We were dealing with everything they threw at us,” Sibbald continued. “At 1-0, we felt that we could just get in at half-time and regroup.

“We felt we could have played a bit more football when we got the ball back – at times, we were a wee bit rushed and panicky.

“If we had taken care of the ball a bit more, we could find ways to hurt them but right on the stroke of half-time, their second goal comes from their player having a shot on the edge of the box.

“It hits the crossbar and another of their players taps it in, but when the initial shot goes in, that guy is miles offside.

“It kind of killed the game a wee bit right on half time.”

The Swifts’ day would go from bad to worse as a heated interaction would see Mitchell Sharp sent off.

Sibbald disputes the decision, insisting Sharp was reacting to a situation imposed on him and didn’t deserve to see red.

He said: “We got a player sent off and I thought on the day was really quite harsh.

“Their player has walked over, pushed his head out and stood on his foot and all he’s done is push the guy off him.

“The referee ran over and gave our guy the red card and the other player a yellow which was a bit baffling.”

Camelon added a third and fourth to their tally to see out the day as the home manager said it was just a week to forget for the Swifts.

“It was damage limitation after that,” Sibbald said. “It was a hard enough task with the offside goal but down to 10 men, 2-0 down against a really good team.

“To come away with a 4-0 defeat was probably a good result. It was a week that didn’t go right for us.

“We got one of our guys get injured on Thursday, one guy was suspended, another was at a job interview.

“It was one of those weeks that we wanted to get out of the way and then when that happens, it was just one of those days.

“We need to crack on, we play Newtongrange Star this week and we need to regroup and go for that.”

Saturday’s fixtures: (2pm kick-off unless stated) – East of Scotland First Division, Crossgates v Camelon. Newtongrange Star v Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts 2.30pm. East of Scotland Second Division, Oakley United v Vale of Leithen.