FINE wins for Hill of Beath Hawthorn and Crossgates Primrose were the main talking points in a truncated football card with Kelty Hearts having no game.

Meanwhile Lochore Welfare drew but have now gone four games undefeated under James Adam’s stewardship.

Hill of Beath Hawthorn 3,

Musselburgh Athletic 1.

AN impressive show from the Haws in this South Challenge Cup third round tie against a very useful Musselburgh side.

Hill of Beath had the best possible start with a goal in only 20 seconds.

Sean Leishman started things from the kick-off and fed Calum Adamson whose cross was knocked on by Joe Kirby and Daniel Watt finished from close in.

Musselburgh were shocked and struggled to get back into the game and in 20 minutes Haws doubled their lead.

A long throw by Ricky Patrick saw the ball flicked on by Watt and it hit a defender and rolled over the line.

Musselburgh had a couple of good raids without really worrying Stuart Hall and at the break the two goals separated the sides.

Athletic started the second period well and they pulled one back in 50 minutes but on the hour the two goal lead was restored.

Russell Grierson was making ground into the Musselburgh box when he was hauled down and Lee Reid converted from the spot.

There were other chances for the home side but they were denied by a couple of good saves and at the other end the home defence did well to keep an eager attack out.

Haws boss Kevin Fotheringham was delighted with the performance: “This was the best side we have played this season and the lads handled the task well.

“Getting the opener in only 20 seconds helped us and the lads did really well throughout.

“However, we have a run of games coming up which will see us facing top quality opposition and this was an excellent chance to see how we could handle the challenge and it was very encouraging.”

Dundonald Bluebell 0,

Boness United 1.

AN early goal saw the ‘Bell bow out of the Football Nation Qualifying Cup in this second round tie.

The goal came in three minutes when a United front man made a good run into the box and headed home.

However, in eight minutes Lewis McKenzie got into a good position but fired wide.

Boness continued to look the likelier side to score as they had a lot of the ball but the hard working Dundonald defence held on and Craig Wedderburn saw the Boness ‘keeper save well.

The second period saw the home side do a lot better and Calum Smith saw a shot cleared off the line.

Dundonald continued to work away, then United had a penalty after a rash challenge in the home box but James Lennox came to the rescue to keep his team in the tie with a great save.

They kept working hard but just could not get a goal which disappointed boss Jason Dair.

He said: “This was not a good performance at all, we just never really got into the game after losing the early goal.

“It was very disappointing and Boness seem to have something over us meantime.

“We will have to play at lot better when we got to Sauchie in the league this weekend.”

Crossgates Primrose 5,

Dunipace 1.

THIS East of Scotland League Cup qualifying round tie saw Crossgates rout a struggling Dunipace side at Humbug.

The home side made a superb start to the game and took the lead in 13 minutes when Scott Hynd slotted the ball into the net after a good move.

There were chances coming for the Crossgates side and only some fine defending and goalkeeping kept the hosts out.

They managed to hold out until the 38th minute when another fine piece of work by the home midfield saw Barry Paterson fire them two up.

Dunipace had not really bothered Henderson in the Primrose goal and when the third was scored by Hynd on the hour the game was over as a contest.

Ten minutes later a deserved fourth goal came when Paterson scored from close in but the visitors pulled one back to make the scoreline more respectable.

This only fired up Primrose to finish the game strongly and Mark McKenzie slotted number five in 78 minutes to complete a good day for Crossgates.

Rosyth Recreation 2,

Lochore Welfare 2.

A LATE penalty denied Lochore a fourth successive win in this South Division clash on the shores of the Forth.

Welfare started the game well and had a couple of openings before the opener came in 25 minutes when Sean Johnstone finished well.

There were other chances for the Welfare but a couple of misses saw Rosyth stay in the game and they took advantage to square the game in 35 minutes.

There was drama though when a 30 yard Rosyth drive came seemed to go in but struck something and came out and the referee waved play on!

Lochore were the more prominent side at the start of the second period and pushed forward and started to create chances and Adam Haddow came off the bench to fire home a fine shot to restore the lead.

Rosyth kept working away but Lochore had chances to tie the game up but failed to hit the target and in the last minute Ethan Anderson mistimed his jump which saw him fall over a Rosyth forward which saw the player go to ground.

The referee pointed to the spot and it was converted to deny Lochore a fourth successive win.

Welfare boss James Adam was a little disappointed that his team could not hold out as a win could have pushed the team into the top half of the table.

He said: “We did not play as well as we have in previous weeks but seemed capable of holding out.

"While it looked a softish penalty award, over the piece a draw was probably a fair result.

“We can now look forward to our derby game with Lochgelly this coming Saturday. There will be an extra edge to the this one”

Lochgelly Albert 1,

Stoneyburn 2.

LOCHGELLY were very unlucky to lose this Thorntons Property East League Cup tie with Stoneyburn at Gardiner’s Park.

The Berts line-up had four trialists in the side plus a couple of their Colts side and they opened the game impressively.

They attacked strongly and Stoneyburn’s defence had to work hard to keep them out and there were a couple of close calls for the visitors but in 24 minutes the pressure produced a goal.

Michael Perrie’s pass released Ricky Cooper who steadied himself before tucking the chance away.

Cooper went close again when a fierce shot brought out a spectacular save from the ‘keeper.

However, in 37 minutes a penalty came for Stoneyburn after a foul in the Albert box but home ‘keeper Sean Hunter made a fine save from the spot.

Lochgelly went for a second and Dan Thomson hit the post with a well placed shot and the visiting ‘keeper kept his team in the game with two fine saves.

So the Berts could have been further ahead at the break and their failure to add more goals came back to haunt them when Thomson pushed a ‘Burn striker in the Albert box and the penalty was converted.

Lochgelly were still in it and a fine shot by Cooper saw the ‘keeper at full stretch in 72 minutes but two minutes later the home defence was caught out and a free header put the visitors ahead.

Still Lochgelly came back into the game and sub Stan Chitmere was so unlucky not to level late on.

Saturday’s fixtures, Lowland League, Stirling University v Kelty Hearts (3pm). East of Scotland League Conference A, Hill of Beath Hawthorn v Musselburgh Athletic (2.30). EoS Conference B, Sauchie v Dundonald Bluebell (2.30), Eyemouth United v Crossgates Primrose (2pm).

South Division, Lochgelly Albert v Lochore Welfare (1.45).