SATURDAY’S East of Scotland first round saw five straight wins for local clubs with just one goal conceded.

In the East Premier League, however, Dundonald Bluebell came a cropper at Glenrothes despite having the bulk of possession.

Glenrothes 2, Dundonald Bluebell 1.

DESPITE having chances galore Dundonald went down to only their second league defeat of the season.

The Glens ‘keeper certainly had one of those days when everything went right for him but he should have had no chance on several occasions.

The opening 45 minutes saw Bluebell create several good chances but the home last line had good saves from Jamie Gilfillan and Craig Morrison.

There was little danger from the home side but they went ahead in a rare raid. Bluebell ‘keeper James Lennox came racing off his line to deal with a through ball but then stopped and he was beaten to it by the Glens front man who scored.

It was tough for the visitors to take but inside three minutes of the second-half Dundonald were level.

The ball was swept across the face of the Glens box and Gilfillan was perfectly placed to slot the ball into the net.

This opened the door for Bluebell to put a lot of pressure on the home side but the second goal would not come and then Glens grabbed a second after Lennox was caught out by the ball seeming to go out and the official not signalling it, and they slotted number two.

After that Bluebell pushed for the equaliser but somehow Glens survived and the home ‘keeper had a brilliant double save from Gilfillan and Morrison to ensure the visitors felt it was not their day.

Hill of Beath Hawthorn 2, Dundee Violet 0.

HAWS were good winners over the East Premier side in this DJ Laing East of Scotland Cup-tie at Keir’s Park.

Violet were game opponents but lacked the ability to pose the home side real problems and by the interval the game was pretty well won.

In the early stages Hill of Beath had the Dundee side under pressure but they managed to survive with Calum Adamson and Aaron Hay going closest to a goal, but then the opener came.

Michael Gemmell’s pass opened up the Violet defence and Adamson latched onto it and he clinically slotted the ball into the net. There were more chances for the home side and the second came when Adamson slid the ball into the net from an acute angle.

There was a shock for Haws eight minutes into the second period when Hay was involved in discussion with the referee and was shown the red card and this gave Violet some hope of a comeback.

Stuart Hall made a couple of good saves to ensure his team stayed in the box seat and they had a chance to seal the tie when Gemmell was fouled in the Dundee box but Adamson’s spot-kick was saved. Haws saw the game out despite this blow and deserved their win.

Haws manager Jock Finlayson was delighted with the result, “We played really well in the first-half and maybe should have been four ahead at the break. The sending off posed us a few problems but we were never in any real danger of losing the tie.” Kelty Hearts 3, Dundee Downfield 0.

THE Dundee North Division team worked hard in this DJ Laing EoS Cup game but Hearts were never in danger of not progressing.

Stuart Cargill kept up his amazing run of goal scoring by adding two cup goals to his ten league strikes.

Downfield tried to flood the midfield to stop the Super League leaders and Hearts found it difficult to create openings early in the game but on the half hour they got the breakthrough when Cargill headed home a Neil McCabe cross, then before the break Brian Ritchie got on the end of a Conrad Courts corner and nodded in number two.

There could have been another as Cargill saw his fierce shot come back of a post.

The second-half saw Kelty continue to dominate, but in fairness to Downfield they worked hard at keeping the score down although there was nothing they could do to stop Cargill adding a third with a shot from a tight angle.

Hearts boss, Thomas Courts, was pleased with the way his team tackled the tie, “This was another impressive show from the lads against a side who tried hard to deny us space.

“Stuart Cargill took his goals well and it is an amazing run he is having with 12 in six games, but it is back to the league this Saturday and we have to ensure we produce the same sort of form to give us the chance to keep our winning run going.” Lochgelly Albert 2, West Calder United 0.

ALBERT were comfortable winners of this DJ Laing tie but it should have been more comfortable.

Lochgelly started the game very positively and they could have been ahead in the early stages but were defied by some good goalkeeping.

However, in 14 minutes the opener came. Brett McGuire raced into the West Calder box where he was fouled by the ‘keeper and Stevie Brown converted the spot-kick.

They should have been more than a goal up at the break but some bad misses cost them a bigger lead.

However, the second came when a long Lee Wilson kick-out found Michael Perrie who cleverly cut inside and fired a lovely shot into the net.

The West Calder challenge faded in the 76th minute when they had a man sent-off after a foul on Lewis McIntosh and Albert saw the tie out to get their name in the round two draw.

Lochore Welfare 3, Newburgh 0.

NEWBURGH came to Crosshill having opened their North Division campaign impressively but they ran into a Welfare side firing on all cyclinders.

The opening 45 minutes saw Lochore dominate possession and the visitors had to defend desperately to keep them out.

There were several good chances missed and the home fans would have been forgiven for thinking that their team were not going to get the goals their play deserved.

However, within ten minutes of the second-half starting the hosts were in front. A fine move saw Lee Celentano in a good position and his fine finish gave the ‘keeper no chance.

It was all Welfare and the second came nine minutes later when Newburgh were sliced open by another sweeping Lochore move and a well placed shot from Bryan Donnelly doubled their advantage.

Lochore had a ‘goal’ chalked off when Greig Renton, following up after a shot was blocked netted but was given off-side which annoyed home fans.

But Celentano hit number three to put the lid on a good cup performance.

Welfare boss Peter Hutton was very pleased with his team, “We have been playing well in recent weeks without getting anything from it.

“But against Newburgh we got the mistakes out of our game and scored some excellent goals. Now we have to kick-on in our league programme and produce the same sort of display.” Crossgates Primrose 4, Kirrie Thistle 1.

A VERY impressive Crossgates show in the DJ Laing Cup and clearly the Humbug men’s best show of the season.

Kirrie have been recording some decent results in the North Division and would have been confident of doing well against a team which has been struggling for wins.

However Crossgates opened the game well and took the lead in 15 minutes when Smart lifted the ball over the ‘keeper allowing Devaney to head home from three yards.

Kirrie regrouped and came back at Primrose and eventually grabbed the equaliser, but credit to the home side they did not let this affect them and just before the break they went back in front when they scored after a corner had not been dealt with properly and Devaney netted.

The second-half saw Crossgates continue to have the better of things and player-coach Smart slotted home past a sprawling ‘keeper to make it 3-1. And the game got worse for the Angus team when they had a man was shown a straight red for violent conduct. McOmish rounded things off collecting a long ball before chipping over the ‘keeper.

Saturday’s fixtures: McBookie.com East Super League, Kelty Hearts v Lochee United, Carnoustie Panmure v Hill of Beath Hawthorn, Ballingry Rovers v Penicuik Athletic.

McBookie.com East Premier League, Dundonald Bluebell v Arniston Rangers. McBookie.com South Division, Whitburn v Lochgelly Albert, Crossgates Primrose v Livingston United. McBookie.com North Division, Dundee Downfield v Lochore Welfare (all games 2.30pm).