Scottish Cup woe for North End and Lochee United

IT wasn’t the best of Saturdays for Lochee United and North End, with both sides crashing out of the Scottish Cup after home defeats.

Lochee, in particular, had high hopes of going through after holding Neilston to a draw on their home patch.

However, they were up against it after the west side opened up a two-goal gap in the first half.

The Bluebells started strongly with Stephen McNally shooting just wide then Ross Gallagher forced a good save from visiting keeper Jim Digney.

But it was the visitors who broke the deadlock in eight minutes when Paul Stewart’s angled drive beat home keeper John Sinclair.

Worse was to follow in 23 minutes when Sinclair failed to hold a close-range shot from Mark Archdeacon and the Neilston striker followed up to net the rebound.

Lochee were given a lifeline in 51 minutes when Garry Kenneth rose to bullet a header into the net from a free-kick.

After that, it was all Lochee as they went in search of an equaliser.

Home hopes were killed off in 72 minutes, however, when Neilston were awarded a penalty for handball in the box and Dylan Fletcher made no mistake from the spot.

After reaching the semi-final in the last two years it was a disappointing end to this season’s campaign.

George Shields’ side must now concentrate on catching the leaders up in the league.

It was also a disappointing debut for new North End manager Tony McAulay as the Dokens tie mirrored the first half at Thomson Park.

Goals from Grant Brennan, in 16 minutes, and another from Dave Green i n 28 minutes put Kirkintilloch Rob Roy in control.

Although they tried hard, the Dokens never really looked like saving the tie.