LOCHORE WELFARE taught Heriot-Watt University a lesson at the weekend as they comfortably disposed of their visitors to Central Park.

Lochore’s joy was not spread across the remaining local East of Scotland League sides, however, with Crossgates Primrose, Dundonald Bluebell and Lochgelly Albert all shipping goals in heavy defeats on Saturday.

Lochore Welfare 4 Heriot Watt University 0

A FINE Conference B win for the Welfare who are sitting in clear fourth place in the table.

The home side suffered a blow in the early stages when key midfielder Robbie Crawford had to limp off after pulling a hamstring, but they soon adapted to the situation and went a goal up in 25 minutes when Logan Donaldson fired a fierce volley past the University ‘keeper.

This gave Lochore a break lead and straight after the re-start they doubled their advantage which saw a six man move involving Anderson, Dawson, Christie, Donaldson, Thomson and Joe Kirby combine, and Kirby provided the finishing touch, after slipping the last defender, to leave the Students in trouble.

With twenty minutes to go the game was over as a contest when Donaldson was hauled down in the box and Kirby slotted home the penalty kick.

Heriot Watt have been having a good season and tried to fight-back, but the midfield strength of the home side kept them at bay and with only 12 minutes left a Matty Christie free-kick was volleyed home by Sean Cusick, The result puts Lochore on 41 points from 20 games and could yet finish in the top three, and manager James Adam described the overall show as the best since he took over a s manager two seasons ago.

“It was certainly by far and the way our best performance of the season and the way the lads adapted to losing Robbie Crawford was excellent,” said the Welfare boss.

“To be honest Heriot Watt sit seventh in the table and have produced some good results this season, but we were excellent and could have scored several more goals.”

Dundonald Bluebell 1 Blackburn United 5

A VERY poor second-half performance from the ‘Bell saw relegation threatened Blackburn leave Moorside Park with a schock win.

Yet Dundonald opened the game well and created a few openings but they were punished in 25 minutes when a slack home pass gave United the opening to take the lead.

Before the break, however, Bluebell were level when Colin Wilson headed down a cross and Barry Sibanda scored from close in.

The second period started badly for Dundonald when Blackburn took the lead in 53 minutes when a cross was met by a home defender and a United striker and the ball flew into the net, then a few minutes later the ‘Bell’s Billy Rogerson was ordered off after retaliating to a fierce tackle.

United sensed they could get a rare win for them this season and a fine finish for a third goal had them on the right track.

Dundonald kept looking for a way back but the ten men started to wilt and Blackburn scored twice in the last 10 minutes to go nap.

The result has left the Bluebell on 31 points from 25 games in 10th spot and manager Kevin Fotheringham wants a big improvement in their closing nine games: “It was a very poor day for us.

“We gave away a couple of bad goals and we really need to play a lot better to get the points we need to get away from the bottom four teams.”

Linlithgow Rose 5 Crossgates Primrose 2

LINLITHGOW Rose took advantage of Penicuik’s postponement, at Hill of Beath, to beat Primrose and go top of the Premier League.

Yet in the opening stages there were no signs of a goal glut as defences dominated and there were few clear openings for the sides.

Seven minutes from the interval, however, Rose took the lead with a sharp finish.

The second period saw Crossgates again look sharp and Brian Ritchie went close to a leveller, but in 66 minutes Linlithgow’s strike force doubled the lead.

The Primrose rolled up their sleeves and only six minutes later Calum Smith pulled one back.

As both defences started to find things more difficult Rose scored number four in 75 minutes but within two minutes Ritchie made it 4-2.

The visitors were looking to stage a grandstand finish but they lost Andy McDonald to a red card with five minutes to go and in the last minute Linlithgow cemented their spot at the top of the table with a fifth goal.

Primrose are in a secure place in the table in seventh spot on 37 points with ten games left.

Lochgelly Albert 1 Syngenta 7

BIG spending Conference X side, Syngenta, were much too strong for the Berts at Falkirk Stadium, in this King Cup first round tie.

Yet Lochgelly started the game solidly and after the first quarter the score was locked at 0-0.

However, a freak goal turned the Syngenta machine on. They forced a corner and the set piece went straight into the home net.

The Berts kept battling away but goals in the 39th and 41st minutes gave the visitors a three goal cushion but before the break Stephen Stark pulled one back when he shot a rebound past the visiting ‘keeper.

A defensive mix-up in the Lochgelly set-up three minutes into the second period gave Syngenta their fourth goal, and as the home side started to struggle a fifth came.

The title chasing Conference X side kept looking for goals and two late strikes took their tally to seven.

Albert chairman, Jock Kinnell, said that the cup-tie was always going to be a very tough ask for his young team: “Syngenta have invested a lot of money in their side but we posed them a few problems early in the game.

“These sort of games are a learning process for our side and we are continuing to look to bring in players to strengthen our side.”

Saturday’s fixtures (2.30pm kick-off) - East of Scotland Premier League: Tranent v Hill of Beath Hawthorn Tynecastle v Crossgates Primrose.