Local football: Links thwarted by a Rose revival after early gift

EDINBURGH Rose are through to the third round of the East of Scotland Cup after a 4-1 victory over Lothian West outfit Links United at a blustery Saughton 3G.

Premier Division 1 side Rose have enjoyed a solid start to the season and are yet to taste defeat in the league, while Links are a club on the rise after a shaky start to the new campaign.

Despite the victory, Rose coach John Dignan was far from pleased with the performance of his players and acknowledged Links proved to be more than a match for his side.

He said: “I thought we were poor and the result should have been a lot closer than it was. Links played very well and had a lot of chances to score. I’m happy we are through to the next round but we can play a lot better than we did.”

It was Links, however, who gained the early advantage, but they were grateful to Rose goalkeeper David Sorley who more than gifted them the opener. Links’ Faron Gribben’s free-kick from inside his own half, completely evaded Sorley, who had misjudged the flight of the ball, and could only look back in despair and see the ball land in the empty net.

Rose responded well and Jon Laidlaw came close with a couple of headers before Euan Bisset really should have equalised from six yards when he got on the end of a teasing Murray Milne cross.

The visitors eventually levelled three minutes before the break when Daniel Smith’s poor clearance fell kindly to Stuart Morrison and the pacey winger’s cutback from the right was placed into the left corner by Paul Dunlop.

The second half was no more than a minute old when Rose went 2-1 ahead. Morrison picked the ball up 30 yards from goal and weaved into the box before poking the ball into the far corner.

The task was made even harder for Links when it was 3-1 two minutes later. Raymond Walker had acres of space deep in their territory and he ventured unchallenged into the penalty area before firing a left-footed strike beyond David Bald.

A superb piece of skill by Links substitute Jules Paterson created a clear view of Sorley’s goa,l but the goalkeeper got down to block the striker’s shot.

Terry Philbin’s precise pass put Paterson through on goal once again, but he failed to hit the target. Dunlop’s rasping drive then brought the best out of Bald as he stretched to tip the ball over the crossbar.

Rose did seal victory after 70 minutes and saved the best until last.when Scott Wallace a clever one-two with striker Laidlaw, then drilled the ball into the back of the net to make it four.

Links United: David Bald, Colin Kay, Sam Chetwynd, John Diver, Faron Gribben, Daniel Smith, Joe Boyle, Niall Porter, Jamie Archibald, Gary Craig, Russell Scott, Terry Philbin, Cameron Luke, Jules Paterson, Robert Doig, Gordon Stuart.

Edinburgh Rose: David Sorley, Scott Wallace, Murray Milne, Jamie Stewart, Euan Bisset, David Brogan, Jon Laidlaw, Raymond Walker, Paul Dunlop, Stuart Morrison, Owen Maxwell, David Meenan, Matthew Harvey, Joseph Harvey, Scott Brown, Gavin Cattanach.