Swifts turn on style to defeat Broxburn
Keith Dewar’s goal-scoring exploits put a smile on the face of his Jeanfield Swifts team-mates at the weekend.
The central midfielder rarely gets his name on the scoresheet but rounded off Saturday afternoon’s 4-1 Football Nation Qualifying Cup round one win against Broxburn Athletic.
Connor McLaren opened the scoring but the Perth men were pegged back when Conor Kelly was afforded too much space to guide into the bottom corner beyond goalkeeper Mark Mitchell.
But Swifts remained calm with Paul Simpson and Scott Smith finding the back of the net before Dewar popped up in the box to guide over the line from close range to seal victory in style.
And he admits that drew in a few laughs from his delighted pals on the pitch.
“Getting the goal at the end was a nice way to round off a good result for me personally,” Dewar said. “It gave some of the boys a laugh considering I haven’t scored for a long time!
“I thought the performance was excellent on Saturday and I think we can take a lot of confidence from it.
“Broxburn were a tough team for us last year so I think the game shows the improvements that we’ve been making. Winning the way we did can give us a lot of confidence to be challenging up the league this year.
“Broxburn will be one of the stronger teams this year so we should be taking confidence from a result and performance like Saturday.
“The start of the season has been a bit frustrating in the league and we probably feel we could have a few more points considering how we’ve performed.
“I think the league we’re in this season is one of the most competitive I’ve ever played in. There’s so many strong teams of a similar level.
“But it’s been a great start in both the cups with two solid performances.
“We can definitely be challenging in the league with the squad we have and be looking to win something.”
Swifts manager Ross Gunnion hailed the performance of his players in the weekend cup win against Broxburn. He was particularly pleased with how his squad continued to be brave on the ball when the score was tied at one-each.
“I thought it was a fantastic performance from start to finish and the scoreline certainly didn’t flatter us,” he explained to the Perthshire Advertiser.
Scott Smith, who netted the third goal for Jeanfield, keeps Broxburn at bay. Pictures: Graham Farquhar
“Broxburn are deservedly one of the favourites for the league this season having missed out on promotion to the Lowland League in the last minute of the playoff final. But we bettered them in every department on Saturday.
“We controlled the game for the majority of it and created a host of chances while defensively, we looked solid.
“They managed to score from one of only four shots on target all game. But even at 1-1 we didn’t panic or stop playing the attacking football we are good at.
“And when the game got a bit more physical in the second half we won those individual battles as well. As a performance it’s as good as we’ve delivered this season so far.
“It’s now down to the players to take that performance and aim to replicate it each week. And if they can do that I’m confident it will lead to success over the course of a season.
“As I say, if we can perform like that against arguably the best team in our league then we should have confidence of beating any team at this level.
“Standards have been set now and it’s our aim to ensure we don’t drop below that standard.” Striker Mark Smith wins the race as Swifts apply pressure