Cinch Scottish League One: Three Things we Learned
Scottish League One continued last weekend with the season now in full swing…
Falkirk get league campaign up and running with victory over Peterhead
It was third time lucky for Falkirk in what was John McGlynn’s first league win as boss as they eased past Peterhead at the Falkirk Stadium.
Max Gillies looked likely to put the visitors ahead going into the interval in the final minute of the first-half, however, Ryan Williamson equalised in the dying seconds of added time as both teams went into the break a goal a-piece.
Calumn Morrison gave the Bairns the lead on the stroke of the hour-mark with Gary Oliver clearing any doubt in the final minute to give the hosts their first three points of the season.
Conor O’Keefe was dismissed in the 84th minute for the Blue Toon as Jim McInally’s men remain winless.
The victory for Falkirk sees them leap to fifth-place in the table while the Balmoor side sink to second-bottom.
Next week, the Bairns travel to the capital to face FC Edinburgh as Peterhead welcome Queen of the South to Aberdeenshire.
Falkirk manager, John McGlynn: “I couldn’t believe we went 1-0 down, we were totally dominant and that continued throughout the whole match. Our reaction to going down a goal was fantastic and to do it so quickly was important. I was delighted with the performance, you’d take a 3-1 any day but it should’ve been way more than that. The attitude from the players after last weekend was first-class.”
Peterhead manager, Jim McInally: “We were beaten, weren’t we? We didn’t even deserve to be one-up. You’ve got to try and quieten the home crowd and maybe we could’ve done that if we’d held onto our lead until half-time. We might’ve had a wee chance if we’d done that, although I’m probably kidding myself on there. This is a really tough league, especially this year when we’ve been rebuilding the team. We really need to improve our quality if we can.”
Clyde get the better of Kelty to achieve best league start in 11 years
The Bully Wee continued their best start to a league season since 2011 with a convincing victory over Kelty Hearts at New Douglas Park.
Ross Cunningham opened the scoring for the home side in the 53rd minute after a goalless first period with Euan Cameron doubling the advantage with ten minutes remaining. Cunningham would add salt to Kelty’s wounds with his brace four minutes from time.
The win for Danny Lennon’s charges has them two points off top-of-the-table Dunfermline in second-place, albiet only above Airdrieonians on goals scored. Meanwhile, Kelty have struggled to adapt to life as a third-tier club with the Maroon Machine rock bottom of the table and yet to pick up a point.
Clyde visit familiar foes Montrose next weekend while it is the first Fife derby of the season between Kelty Hearts and Dunfermline as they face off at New Central Park.
Clyde manager, Danny Lennon: “I thought the quality of goals were excellent today against a very good side. I thought Kelty in the first 20-25 minutes had opportunities of their own and we lived to tell the tale. Neil Parry had a couple of great saves in those moments which kept us in the game. I’m very pleased with the good character and great energy, especially in the second-half. There is a lot of football still to be played and it’s still early days, but it is very important we stay grounded.”
Kelty Hearts manager, John Potter: “Not good enough, simple as that. You could talk about the chances we had in the first-half and we had a lot of them, but the second-half was unacceptable. It’s happened too many times, losing goals and being all over the place. We’ve signed a few players, so the squad is bigger now and more competitive, so it’s up to me and my staff to pick the right team.”
FC Edinburgh edge past Alloa Athletic in six-goal thriller at the Indodrill
FC Edinburgh maintained their decent start to life in League One as they dismantled Alloa Athletic with a 4-2 victory at the Indodrill Stadium.
Conor Sammon opened the scoring for the hosts in the eighth minute before a brace from John Robertson in the 21st and 33rd minute ensured the visitors went down the tunnel with a narrow lead at the break.
The Citizens’ capitalised on their half-time advantage with a third from Innes Murray nine minutes after the re-start. The heat was cranked up in the final five minutes as Ross Maciver pulled a goal back for the Wasps. However, the three points were sealed in the 87th minute as Danny Handling’s strike completed the scoring.
Callum Crane was shown a red in the final minute of normal time to take the shine off what was otherwise a stellar three points for Alan Maybury’s men, who climb to fourth-place. Meanwhile, Alloa slip to sixth ahead of their trip to Airdrie next week.
Alloa Athletic manager, Brian Rice: “Defensively it was a shambles, to score two goals and not take anything from the game. The goals we lost were school-boy stuff, it was all individual mistakes and we can’t afford to lose goals like that. When you get beat, you look at the negatives first and did I get the team wrong? Possibly.”
FC Edinburgh manager, Alan Maybury: “I felt we played really well. We started on the front foot and I thought their [Alloa’s] early goal game against the run of play, but we reacted really well and showed a positive attitude. Our analysis of them played out pretty well and I think on another day we could have scored a few more.”
Scottish League One: Results
Alloa Athletic 2-4 FC Edinburgh
Clyde 3-0 Kelty Hearts
Falkirk 3-1 Peterhead
Queen of the South 1-1 Airdrieonians
Dunfermline Athletic 1-0 Montrose
Scottish League One Table: As It Stands