CROSSGATES PRIMROSE boss Alan Campbell has hailed Scott Lawrie as "the complete forward player" after his hat-trick heroics on Saturday.

The former Kelty Hearts and Dundonald Bluebell player, who is the Humbug Park outfit's captain, inspired his side to an astonishing comeback win at Broxburn on Saturday by netting a last-gasp penalty to seal a 5-4 success.

Primrose had been 3-0 down at half-time, and 4-1 behind early in the second half, when they embarked on their superb fightback to earn their second East of Scotland League Premier Division victory of the season.

Ahead of this weekend's home derby with Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts, Campbell was full of praise for the experienced hitman, commenting: "He's just that kind of talisman for us; he's our captain, he's our leader, and he drags the team along all the time with him just because of his experience.

"On Saturday it was more about his finishing ability; the two goals he scored were just brilliant striker's goals that got us into the game, and he's got the nerves to stick the penalty away to complete the hat-trick.

"It was a collective effort. I'm sure Scott will be the first guy to say he got the service on Saturday, good deliveries into the box, and it was a team effort. He'll take the plaudits for getting the hat-trick, a well deserved hat-trick, and man of the match. He was the best player on the park.

"Even at his age, I think he's 35 now, I can't talk highly enough about him. We're so lucky to have him and hopefully he keeps going as long as we can keep him.

"The thing with Scott is he's a nightmare to play against. He obviously lacks that yard of pace now, but his hold up play, his linkage, his finishing ability on both feet, he's good in the air – he's just the complete forward player.

"We're lucky to have him so we'll just enjoy him while we can."

Crossgates' success at Albyn Park was their second in three matches, and means they have only lost one of their last five outings.

Second-bottom Swifts, whose sole success this season came at Hill of Beath Hawthorn, are up next, and Campbell added: "Looking at the fixtures, that's 10 points we've taken out of 10 games. In the scheme of things it's not that bad and we've played top half teams.

"They should take a lot of belief, a lot of confidence, and we now go into a run of games where the I think we've got five of the next six at home against teams around us. It's not a given you're going to win them all but it should give the players a lot of confidence going into these games."

Meanwhile, Kelty Hearts boss Barry Ferguson said he was hoping to add to his squad this week after their 4-0 win at Berwick Rangers in the Lowland League.

The reigning champions, and league leaders, swept aside their nine-man hosts at Shielfield Park but could only name four substitutes.

"We've got a few injuries," Ferguson told his club's media channels afterwards.

"We only had four on the bench; Josh (Donaldson) the goalkeeper, Matty (Flynn) and Robbie (McNab) were on the bench, and Tids (Michael Tidser), I wasn't willing to risk him.

"He would've maybe been ok if I'd pushed him to go and play but, hopefully, with having a free week we'll get a few of those injuries back and we'll have a full squad to pick from next week against Gretna.

"We'll hopefully add one player to the squad this week."