Rosyth 0 Kirriemuir Thistle 1

By Dave Edler

'Rec Crash Out Of Cup To Late Winner

Rosyth showed character to bounce back from last weekend's crushing defeat by Pumpherston Juniors at Recreation Park but ultimately came up just short in this opening round cup-tie in the DJ Laing East of Scotland Cup. The kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes as the visitors from the McBookie.com North Division were caught up in heavy traffic. The 'Rec made two changes from last weeks defeat, with Barry Foster coming in for Michael Macmillan, whilst Blair Duff was preferred to John McDiarmid.

In truth the first 45 minutes was not a great spectacle for the 64 spectators, with only one shot on target from either side. In the 5th minute Scott Russell's promising run came to nothing, whilst five minutes later the away side were unfortunate when Darren Kevin Scott's effort from the right struck both posts before being cleared for a corner. It was Scott who was to have the only on target effort of the half but his 13th minute effort from distance was straight at Mark Rowbotham. He also attempted to lob the 'Rec keeper two minutes later but missed the target and we then had to wait until the 33rd minute for the next action of note, when Darren Cox drove dangerously across the face of the Rosyth goal. Ciaran Chalmers collected a 42nd minute booking for a late challenge on John Farquharson whilst on the stroke of the interval Stewart Russell for the visitors was well challenged as he shaped to shoot. Half-Time 0-0

Macmillan replaced Foster at the break and he contributed to a much livelier second half performance from the home side. On 57 minutes Steven Slimmings sent a low grubber kick wide but 60 seconds later the home side were unlucky not to be in front as John Duffy's well struck long range effort was inches wide of the target with Sean Diamond beaten. Mark McCulloch sent a free-kick over the bar for the 'Rec and as the visitors started to lose their discipline Jonny Snowdon collected a booking for a barge off the ball. Macmillan almost opened the scoring when he was denied at the near post by the legs of Diamond and from the resulting corner McCulloch headed narrowly wide. Rosyth were now well on top and when Chalmers headed a cross across the face of goal to McDiarmid the angle was just too tight for him to direct the ball goalwards. Kirriemuir were still dangerous on the break, however, and in the 83rd minute Nathan Tosh produced a fine one handed save from Rowbotham to keep the sides level. Just as it looked as if we were heading for a stalemate over the 90 minutes Kirrie substitute Ryan Strachan whipped in a cross and it was headed into the back of the net by Scott to propel the visitors into the next round.

It was cruel luck for Rosyth but they will take heart from their second half performance when they take on Lochgelly Albert in the league at Recreation Park next Saturday.

ROSYTH: Rowbotham, O'Connor, Kay, M. Morrison, McCulloch, Foster (sub. Macmillan 45 mins.), J. Duffy, Slimmings (sub. S. Morrison 85 mins), Chalmers, Russell, Duff (sub. McDiarmid 67 mins.) Subs not used: Robertson, Page.
KIRRIEMUIR THISTLE: Diamond, Snowdon, Drumm, Mudie, Duell, Cox (sub. Strachan 83 mins.), Fyfe (sub. McKenna 90 mins.), Russell, Scott, Farquharson, Tosh. Suns not used: Duffy, Thomson, Sloan.

MATCH STATS:
SHOTS ON TARGET: Rosyth 1 Kirriemuir Thistle 5 SHOTS OFF TARGET: Rosyth 8 Kirriemuir Thistle 6 CORNERS: Rosyth 3 Kirriemuir Thistle 11 Attendance:64