Published: Tuesday, 1st June, 2010 9:49am

Late Bathgate goal keeps Haws hopes very much alive

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Hill of Beath Hawthorn 2, Bathgate Thistle 2.

YET another draw for Hill of Beath Hawthorn on Saturday kept their hopes very much alive of surviving in the East Super League.

It was the Keir's Parkers' twelfth match in May and it took a brave fight-back to earn the draw which took them to 24 points.

The result took Haws four points ahead of second bottom Whitburn who they meet on Saturday in West Lothian and clearly that is a big big match.

Saturday's game with second top Bathgate saw the first period a little bland as neither side really settled.

Thistle looked relaxed but did not really string together many good moves while Haws were nervy and were also short of chances.

However, Bathgate upped the tempo after the break and took the lead in 50 minutes with a header following a free-kick.

As the home team struggled Bathgate added a second in 55 minutes and things looked really bleak for the Haws.

The hosts kept their cool though and started to piece together some better moves and in 70 minutes Kevin Byle reduced the deficit with a fine shot from the edge of the box.

After that Calum Adamson went clean through and shot wide before Bathgate missed a good chance.

Then with seven minutes left Stephen Bathgate brought the house down with a brilliantly taken equaliser for Hill of Beath with a 15 yard volley into the roof of the net.

Haws boss Jock Finlayson was happy with the point after going two down.

He said, "Things looked bad for us early in the second-half but we never gave up and were well worth a draw.

"It has been a punishing schedule but we are going to have to dig deep this Saturday when we travel to Whitburn.

"Clearly a win could make us safe and that is our aim."

Kelty Hearts 1, Hill of Beath Hawthorn 1.

THIS big derby clash at Central Park last Wednesday night turned into a real knife edge 90 minutes with both sides looking for safety points.

The game saw both sides struggling to play controlled football and defences dominated throughout.

The first-half saw a couple of half chances created by both sides but no takers and there was little surprise that the break scoreline was blank.

In the second-half Kelty had a couple of good openings but there were no goals, then with just three minutes left Tom McGeorge scored what looked to be the winner for Hearts.

However, credit to haws they rolled their sleeves up and three minutes into time added on Rikki Dair hit the equaliser to earn his side a much needed point.

Saturday's fixture: east Super League Whitburn v Hill of Beath Hawthorn (2.30).