Super Wayne fares well in Lothian win

A DOUBLE from Lothian Thistle striker Wayne McIntosh put a severe dent in Whitehill Welfare's Central Taxis Premier Division title ambitions when his two goals helped his side earn a 4-2 victory at Saughton Enclosure.

The result sees Lothian strengthen their grip on second spot while leaders Spartans remain 25 points ahead of Whitehill, who do still have nine games in hand and – mathematically – can still overtake the Ainslie Park outfit.

The game was evenly balanced until midway through the first half when Mike Herd unleashed a low shot which took a deflection and then bounced in front of Whitehill goalkeeper Youssef Bejaoui. The custodian was unable to hold the ball and the rebound was tucked home by McIntosh.

Five minutes later, a cross from Daniel McAleavy was palmed away by Bejaoui from under his crossbar and the loose ball was immediately struck behind the keeper by Craig Hume.

Daryl Devlin and Gary Calvey had chances to bring Whitehill back into the game before half-time but both failed to trouble Kevin Swain in the home goal.

However, the game changed in the second minute of the second period when a Devlin free-kick found Ross Johnston at the back post and he reduced the leeway with a close-range effort. Shortly afterwards, Thistle conceded a penalty when Ross Allum was sent sprawling and Devlin converted the spot-kick to equalise.

There were seven minutes left when a goalmouth melee allowed Thistle to regain their advantage when Charles McAleavy hit home a loose ball from 16 yards. With Whitehill committed to grabbing an equaliser, Franco Ruiz found space to cross for skipper McIntosh to head home to make it 4-2.

Lothian coach Fraser Ogilvie said: "Our first-half performance was excellent in terms of our discipline, teamwork and effort. Our game plan worked and we had no complaints whatsoever. I said to the players at half-time not to switch off but we did for about 25 minutes. Then we weathered the storm and got two goals back to give us a massive confidence boost against a team who are still going for the league championship."

Gary Aitchison, the Whitehill manager, said: "A couple of mistakes in the first half cost us two goals and had us chasing the game. We then got back into it but made another mistake and I was disappointed for the boys who fought hard to get back into the game."

• IN the King Cup second round, Edinburgh City beat Gretna 2008 3-1 with goals from Andy Howat (2) and Dougie Gair.