Kelly dinks Swifts in to the quarter final
Jeanfield win 7-6 on penalties after draw with Penicuik
Daniel Kelly’s cheeky winning penalty sent Jeanfield Swifts through to the quarter final of the East of Scotland Cup.
And manager Ross Gunnion admits he had a feeling the crafty forward would try something audacious to secure the shoot-out win against Penicuik Athletic.
Perth goalkeeper Mark Mitchell made a couple of fine penalty saves - and scored one himself - before Kelly dinked his effort from 12 yards into the back of the net to triumph 7-6.
Tony Holt scored twice in normal time to give Swifts breathing space but a late Penicuik fightback sent the game beyond 90 minutes.
“The icing on the cake for the whole day was the flair which Daniel Kelly showed in dispatching the winning penalty,” Gunnion said. “I actually had a feeling he’d do that in the run up.
“He’s certainly got the ability and creativity to do things like that, but the contribution he made throughout the 90 minutes was even better for me.
“Overall we’re delighted to be in the next round and looking forward to a tough tie away at Musselburgh in the quarters.”
Gunnion had confidence that his side would pull through on penalties, especially with a keeper of Mitchell’s pedigree in between the sticks.
“When Penicuik drew level it was a blow,” he said. “But given how we’d performed and the quality we have, I was confident in progressing through the shoot out.
“Mark Mitchell is always worth at least one save out of the five as well. He inspires confidence in the players and even when taking the penalties he isn’t flustered.
“I was very pleased with the overall performance, especially considering we were without six players due to illness and injury.
“We drafted in Robbie Young from our under 19s and he performed brilliantly.
“I’d say we deserved the victory. We knew Penicuik would look to have possession but for over and hour they hardly threatened as we defended well as a team.
“We more than merited being in the next round and we’ve managed to remove one of the top four teams in the competition so it’s really opening up now.” ●Luncarty manager Jon Kelly insists his side will maintain a high level of performance until the end of the season.
The Bleachers brushed aside Brechin Vics 4-0 on Saturday thanks to goals from Jamie Reid, Lewis Allan, Richard Doig and Martin Maher.
And while the Brownlands Park men are on course for a mid-table North Division finish, Kelly says his squad will continue to battle.
“I was very pleased with the performance on a very difficult surface. The boys worked very hard and we probably should of scored a lot more goals,” he said.
“We have a great squad of players at the club, the progress we have made is very pleasing.
“Normally this time of the season goes flat for teams that are sitting in the middle of the table, but I know our squad of players want to finish as high up the league as possible so that’s great to see.
“We now face Coupar Angus on Wednesday night and we know this will be a very difficult fixture.
“They beat us at Luncarty and we will certainly be going there on Wednesday looking to make amends for this.”
Coupar Angus manager Logan McConachie admits there was no panic setting in when his side fell behind to second from bottom Lochore Welfare on Saturday.
The east Perthshire squad recovered to eventually run out 3-1 winners with goals from Daniel Neath, Chris Liversedge and Alex Gibb.
“The guys did well at times but we have got to work harder off the ball,” McConachie said.
“Lochore didn’t cause us much problems which led our players to become switched off at times, we’ll rectify that issue on Monday though.
“There was no concern in going behind, we levelled very quickly after and I’d say conceding gave us a wake up call.”
Coupar welcome fellow Perthshire side Luncarty to Foxhall Park on Wednesday evening.
McConachie added: “We got a great result against them the last time and will have a game plan to get a result against them again.
“It was a good competitive game last time and we’re looking forward to our first midweek game of the season.” ●Kinnoull picked up an impressive point away at top of the North Division Thornton Hibs on Saturday afternoon.
It was the Perth side who trailed by one at the break but Mark Smith levelled the fixture in the 58th minute.
And Noull would then take the lead when Rhys Davies kept his cool to convert from the penalty spot.
With the game heading into its latter stages, Thornton snatched a leveller through Stuart Drummond. ●Scone Thistle’s successful season continued at the weekend with a 3-0 victory against Newburgh.
Tony Holt (left) netted twice for Swifts before Kelly (right) dinked the winning attempt in the penalty shoot-out
Jags attacker Gary Fergus opened the scoring before a second half double from Abi Njie resulted in a comfortable win.
Derek Lawson’s men sit third in the North Division, six points from the top of the table. ●Blairgowrie were on their travels at the weekend but lost out 3-2 at Arbroath Vics.
Stefan Brown and Darren Neave were on target for the Davie Park squad, who have dropped to eighth in the North Division.