Manager Kay frustrated by additional fixture in Fife

Musselburgh Amateurs have it all to do as they were held to a 1-1 draw with Fife outfit Benarty AFC in their Scottish Amateur Cup second round tie at Pinkie St Peters.

Both goals arrived in the first half, but chances were few and far between after the interval as the players had to settle for a draw. The home side came close after only five minutes when Andy MacDonald’s cross from the left was headed on to the bar by Blair Cormack, but Scott Lane couldn’t take advantage with the rebound as his effort when astray.

Benarty then grabbed the lead after 15 minutes when striker Greig Haddow was the recipient of a lucky break in the Musselburgh penalty area and he struck a firm effort into the far corner to put the visitors ahead.

Musselburgh were level ten minutes from the break when Daryl Waugh’s delivery from a set-piece was headed into the net by John Stanton. Kevin Keicher came close on two 
occasions for Benarty in the second period, as did Jamie Kay and Giovanni Crolla for Musselburgh, but both sides failed to create enough to win the match outright.

Manager Cris Kay admits the replay is an additional fixture he and his players could do without, but will look to finish the tie off when the sides meet again on Saturday. He said: “Both sides played fairly well and we had a go towards the end of the game going three at the back. I didn’t really want to have to go through to Fife but we’re still in it. We’ve had a look at what their shape is and who their dangerous players are, so we’ll work on it at training and take it into the replay.”

Salters grab late clincher

Salters Athletic scored in the final minute to win 2-1 and send LEAFA rivals Edinburgh Southern crashing out of the Scottish Amateur Cup at Poltonhall.

The home side were made to work for their victory, coming from behind after Edinburgh Southern had taken the lead shortly after half-time.

Salters coach Stephen Crawford was relieved to scrape through to the third round and is already looking ahead.

Crawford said: “I’m absolutely delighted to get through. We’ve been playing really well in the last few weeks and the guys have really chipped in.

“We managed to get a performance for the whole 90 minutes, so hopefully we can get a good away trip in the next round.”

After a goalless first half, Southern grabbed the lead when Chris Strother scored with a cross-cum-shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Chris Robertson, however, restored parity for Salters and then scored the winner in the dying minutes when he collected a pass inside the box and showed great composure before firing home.

Edinburgh Southern’s Alasdair Howie was dissatisfied with his side’s showing. He said: “I was generally disappointed with the performance. A lot of the boys just didn’t look up for it at all. The better team won to be honest, so I can have no complaints.”

Redemption for Stewart

DUNALBA FC and Links United
battled out a 1-1 draw in their Lothian West clash at Forrester High’s 3G surface.

However, only one player managed to find the net and that was Dunalba’s Lindsay Stewart, who suffered the misfortune of directing the ball into his own goal from Colin Kay’s corner to give Links the lead.

Stewart did manage to redeem himself ten minutes from time when he scored at the right end, once again from a corner, to earn his side a precious point.

Dunalba’s Aden Donaldson felt his side had performed well enough to warrant a victory.

He said: “I thought we should have won, to be fair, and taken all three points. Links are a good team but we should have won.”

On the other hand, Links’ David Hughes felt a draw was probably a fair reflection over the piece.

“To be honest it wasn’t a great game. They perhaps pressed a bit more than us but never caused us a huge amount of problems,” he said.