Ian Little calls on Whitehill fans to get behind them in relegation plight

Ian Little has issued a rallying cry to Whitehill Welfare supporters to get behind his relegation-threatened side after Saturday’s 3-2 loss against Vale of Leithen moved them closer to the drop.
Whitehill lost out to Vale of Leithen. Pic: TSPLWhitehill lost out to Vale of Leithen. Pic: TSPL
Whitehill lost out to Vale of Leithen. Pic: TSPL

The Rosewell outfit’s slender hopes of remaining in the Lowland League were plunged deeper into trouble after this latest defeat at Ferguson Park.

However, Little has told his players to remain positive and keep believing they can still pull off a great escape.

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“The boys have just got to stick together, keep working hard for each other and hope results fall in our favour,” said Little. “I can’t ask for much more from them because they’ve giving me their all and have bought into everything we’re trying to do.

“We saw a lot of those positive signs during the game, but there’s no getting away from the fact it’s another really disappointing result.

“I felt we did enough performance-wise to earn a point at the very least. We started well, took the lead then conceded two quick goals, which was frustrating and something we must try and work on.

“Our keeper has saved a penalty and we didn’t react quick enough to it for their third goal. You can’t coach things like that.

“We’ve just got to focus on ourselves now and try to win as many of our remaining games as possible. There have been plenty signs of improvement, but we need to stop leaking goals at key moments. Everyone needs to rally together and the backing from our fans can play a big part in that.”

Whitehill opened the scoring after 12 minutes in rather fortuitous circumstances as full-back Kevin Keane’s wind-assisted corner sailed over Vale keeper Ross Gilpin into the net.

Their lead lasted just three minutes as Liam Ireland pounced on a knock-down to slide home an equaliser before the Borderers turned the game on its head through winger Liall Smith, who poked home in the 28th minute.

The Rosewell club were left with a mountain to climb when Vale were awarded a penalty ten minutes into the second half after Nicky Faulds wiped out Brad Rixon inside the box.

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Whitehill shot-stopper Paul Grant saved Jack Blaikie’s spot-kick, but Ireland was on hand to turn home the rebound.

Scott Wright handed the home side a lifeline on the hour mark after the visitors failed to clear a corner, but they were unable to force a late leveller despite Jordan Bain’s thunderbolt clipping the crossbar.

Meanwhile, Civil Service Strollers suffered just their sixth league defeat of the season as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at leaders East Kilbride.

Gary Jardine’s side looked destined to go in at the break on level terms only for Kyle Fee to trip Anton Brady inside the box on the stroke of half-time. Prolific frontman Craig Malcolm smashed the resulting spot-kick past Josh Donaldson.

Brady extended Kilby’s lead with 20 minutes remaining before Strollers netted a late consolation as Jack Downie scored from the penalty spot.

Edinburgh University stopped a run of three straight defeats by holding second-placed BSC Glasgow to a 2-2 draw at East Peffermill, with Finn Daniels-Yeoman and Max Condie responding to falling behind on two occasions.

Spartans were emphatic 5-0 winners against Edusport Academy at Galabank.