Craigroyston dig deep to stun out-of-sorts Lothian

Craigroyston upset the form book when they beat Central Taxis Premier Division side Lothian Thistle 3-1 in the first round of the Image Printers East of Scotland Qualifying Cup to set up a mouth-watering tie against league leaders Edinburgh University at St Mark's Park on Saturday.

Craigroyston, who lost 3-1 to Leith Athletic in a First Division game at the weekend, came into the game as underdogs but their fighting spirit, along with three quality goals, earned them their passage to the next round. "I was delighted with the effort and performance of all of my players," enthused Craigroyston boss Jamie Burrell. "I thought we probably dominated the game from start to finish mainly because we had worked hard at training to identify Lothian's weaknesses and our boys carried out their tasks to perfection."

Craigroyston took the lead in the eighth minute when a through ball from David Anderson found Jordan McKenzie who skipped around Lothian goalkeeper Kevin Swain and fired home from 14 yards. Lothian equalised ten minutes before half-time when Ryan McKenzie pushed Gavin Shanley off the ball and Craig Hume scored from the resultant penalty. Craigroyston regained their advantage in the 70th minute when Anderson and Jon Manson combined to set up Kris O'Neil, who scored with a low shot. And with ten minutes left, a Kyle Hay free kick was headed beyond Swain by Anderson to seal the visitors' victory.

Lothian co-boss Fraser Ogilvie said: "It was a deserved win for Craigroyston who were hungrier than us in all areas of the park. They pressed us everywhere and we have no complaints whatsoever with the result. We lost slack goals from our perspective and never looked like scoring.

"We have very good players here at Lothian Thistle but we looked nervous so it is down to me, Chic McAleavy and Mickey Weir as the management and coaching staff to fix it."

Lothian Thistle: Swain, Wallace, D. McAleavy, Patterson, C. McAleavy, Wilkes, Kelly, Hume, Butler, Dignan, Shanley. Subs: Stewart, McDonagh, McDiarmid, Young.

Craigroyston: Atai, Sproule, R. Cameron, R. McKenzie, Pullen, Manson, Finlayson, Hay, Anderson, O'Neil, J. McKenzie. Subs: Dewar, Binnie, Umotong, Hare, J. Cameron.

• EASTHOUSES LILY moved to the top of the Central Taxis First Division after scoring a late goal to beat bottom club Ormiston 2-1. Paul Lynch had given Ormiston the lead before Stuart Love hit back with goals either side of the interval.