Chapman not ready to crack open title champagne yet

Published on Sunday 3 May 2009 22:51

DUMBARTON all but wrapped up the Third Division title when they hammered struggling Elgin 6-0 at Strathclyde Homes Stadium on Saturday with Derek Carcary hitting four goals, with Stevie Murray and Dennis McLaughlin also netting, although manager Jim Chapman was keeping the champagne on ice.

Despite requiring losing an 18 goal and three point advantage to give away the league, Chapman remained cautious. He said: "It is not finished yet. It is still mathematically possible that we won't win the title so we are taking nothing for granted. I won't settle for a mediocre performance at Annan."

East Stirling climbed into second place to keep the Son's promotion party waiting, as they took advantage of the early sending off of the home side's Alan Benton to win 2-0 at Albion Rovers.

Andy Rodgers scored in the first half and Jamie Stevenson in the second to make it a round dozen games since the Coatbridge men tasted victory.

The Shire will now face Cowdenbeath in a league match next Saturday, which will determine who comes second in the table, before the sides meet again in the play-offs. The second placed side will have the perceived benefit of home advantage in the second leg on 16 May.

Firs Park manager Jim McInally said: "We are in good form just now and undefeated in six games. We will go into the play-offs with confidence, although I would imagine that Cowdenbeath will also rest players next week as I intend too."

McInally's Cliftonhill counterpart, Paul Martin, said: "The sending off was a pivotal moment in the game."

Long time leaders Cowdenbeath continue to stutter and had Jay Stein to thank for two great strikes at Central Park to cancel out early goals to Forfar's Kevin Gordon and Jonny Russell in their 2-2 draw.

Manager Danny Lennon said: "We had the title in our grasp and let it slip away. We have got to pick ourselves up now and try and secure promotion via the play-offs."

Forfar miss out on the play-offs, and their manager, Dick Campbell, said: "I don't know how we never won that game after being two up. I would reckon we will be a major force in this league next season."

Stenhousemuir's roller-coaster season continued as they booked the last place in the play-offs with a 1-0 home win over Annan courtesy of Jordan Smith's goal to leave manager John Coughlin a happy man.

"We were written off three weeks ago, but we have bounced back with three wins and three clean sheets. We can go to Forfar next weekend in a more relaxed frame of mind than I thought we would be going in," said Coughlin.

Annan's defeat cost them a play-off place in their debut season, and manager Harry Cairney was gracious in defeat. He said: "Stenhousemuir deserved their win and it was built on their very good defence."

Improving Montrose won 1-0 at Berwick to jump to fifth in the table after recovering from the miss of an early penalty from Chris Hegarty to win through Kevin Bradley's second half goal. Links Park manager Steven Tweed said: "The form we are in just now we would have made the play-offs if there was still two or three more games to go."

Berwick manager Jimmy Crease had a miserable day. He said: "The referee gave them a dubious penalty, we lost a soft goal and then had a strong penalty claim rejected."