Late deflection delivers a cruel blow for East Select side

THE East of Scotland League Select went down to a narrow 1-0 defeat to an England C side at Ainslie Park.

The East team were dealt a cruel blow which they did not deserve when, with only two minutes of normal time remaining, England's Max Porter hit a left foot shot from 18 yards which took a massive deflection and spiralled over Sam Filler in the home goal.

The East Select had defended magnificently against their full-time opponents from the Blue Square Conference League and could quite easily have beaten them. England included two players from York City and Oxford United who had played at Wembley Stadium in the play-offs only last weekend in front of 50,000 spectators.

The experienced East Select management team of Willie Darroch and Brian Foster opted for a cautious approach to the fixture which meant that Spartans' Keith Mcleod was deployed as a lone striker while the League's leading goalscorer Wayne McIntosh played a central midfield role. England enjoyed more possession but they failed to break down the East Select defence in which Kevin Sivewright, Scott Fusco, Alasdair MacKinnon and Creag Robertson were quite superb.

The East Select did have their attacking moments and a Dean Hoskins free kick was taken off the head of McLeod by Josh Mimms in the England goal while a Sean McAuley free kick was well held by the English custodian.

The East Select started the second half in buoyant mood and there were appeals for a penalty when Andy Howat was bundled to the ground then a Hoskins corner flashed across the six yard box. Hoskins, who had an impressive game throughout, hit a net bound shot which was deflected for a corner then a Gavin Malin free kick from the apex of the penalty box caused the England defence problems.

However, England, in the 88th minute of normal time, scored the winner when Porter of Rushden & Diamonds turned on the edge of the penalty box and hit a left foot shot which hit MacKinnon and spun over Filler and into the far corner of the net.

East of Scotland select: Filler, Fusco, Robertson, Sivewright, MacKinnon, Dodds, McAuley, Howat, McLeod, McIntosh, Hoskins. Subs: Malin, Gair, Kader, Rea, Thom, Radzynski, Milne, King, Bejaoui.