Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts 2 The Spartans 3

Gary Sibbald praised his Swifts side for giving SPFL League Two opponents Spartans "a bit of a scare" in their East of Scotland Cup first round tie on Saturday.

Inverkeithing, winners of the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup last season, are three tiers below their opponents in the league pyramid, but they gave a good account of themselves against a strong capital side.

That was despite them falling behind inside the opening minute of the match, when Mark Stowe netted from Brogan Walls' pass, before the same player doubled the Spartans lead after only 10 minutes.

Just before the break, however, Dan Thomson was unlucky to see a 30-yarder hit the bar for the Swifts, who were boosted two minutes after the restart when Walls was shown a red card for a tackle that the referee took a dim view of.

Former Kelty Hearts man, Cammy Russell, extended Spartans' lead on the hour mark, but, thereafter, the hosts came back into the match.

Dylan Vannett latched on to a loose pass before showing good feet to step away from his opponent, and send a low strike into the bottom corner, in the 69th minute, to pull a goal back.

Then, a minute later, Thomson, from six yards, tapped home a second for the Swifts, finishing off a fine 13-pass move that began from their own goal-line.

Although they couldn't grab an equaliser to take the tie beyond 90 minutes, Sibbald said: "We definitely gave Spartans a bit of a scare.

"They scored after 40 seconds and were starting with a full strength senior team, you know, League Two, so, you're standing at the side thinking this could be a long 90 minutes!

"To be fair, for the first half an hour, they were really good, and we spent a lot of time defending, but we used it as a kind of training exercise.

"I decided to go with a different shape, and different tactics, so it was just about putting that into practice. We ended up having four under-20s players playing on Saturday as well, which was really good.

The Swifts pulled two goals back but couldn't find a leveller.The Swifts pulled two goals back but couldn't find a leveller. (Image: David Wardle.) "We hit the crossbar right before half-time and then, in the second half, they got a man sent off.

"They scored a third and then we came back into it. We scored a really good counter-pressing goal to make it 3-1, and then quite quickly after that, we scored a really good goal from a passing move to make it 3-2.

"For the rest of the game we were putting loads of pressure on them and, on another day, if we'd just managed to carve out, maybe a bit more of a clear-cut chance, we could've taken it to penalties. There was loads of really, really good things.

"Our second goal, for example, I think it was 13 passes we've made. Again, it was against 10 men, but these guys are professionals playing at a really good level. They only really had two under-20s in their team, that came on with 10-15 minutes to go.

"It was a full-strength team they played - which I was praying that they wouldn't! - but it was a really good occasion. I think it was the highest opposition that the club's played, a League Two side, and we had mascots from younger age groups coming out with the players and things like that.

"It was a really good occasion for the club and we put on a really good performance. We were attack-minded and possession-based, and played football the right way. We certainly had a go.

"As much as we got beat, we were quite happy off the back of it because we played it in the right way, and we got loads from it.

"We got injured guys back on the pitch getting some minutes, we got under-20s on, we didn't pick up any more injuries, which was the main thing."

Oakley United 0 St Andrews United 1

Oakley United boss Peter Goldie said he couldn't fault his team's efforts in their narrow defeat to St Andrews United in the third round of the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup.

The Premier Division side, who recently appointed former Dunfermline Athletic player, coach and head of academy, Greg Shields, as their new manager, won through to the last 16 thanks to Lewis Payne's goal with 15 minutes left.

The O's are two leagues beneath their opponents and, although it was their first home loss of the season in all competitions, Goldie commented: "On Saturday we gave a really good account of ourselves, as we have done already this season against teams in higher divisions.

"St Andrews started better than us, but we never really created much in the final third. We grew into the game and had the better of the chances to be honest, with the St Andrews goalkeeper making some really good saves to keep us out.

"Saturday was one of those days where the ball wouldn't go in. St Andrews scored with 15 minutes to go and, again, we had a few chances after to equalise, but couldn't find the net."

He added: "I was disappointed to lose our unbeaten home record but I can't fault the lads' performance on Saturday as we applied ourselves really well, and created a number of chances against top opposition.

"I said to the boys after the game they should be proud of their performance and, if we apply ourselves the way we did on Saturday, and can take some of the chances in front of goal, then we will do well in the remaining league games, which is our priority now."

Saturday's fixtures (kick-offs 1.30pm): East of Scotland League First Division: Crossgates Primrose v Bo'ness Athletic, Thornton Hibs v Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts. Second Division: Oakley United v Tweedmouth Rangers.