Determined Doune stage late comeback
Thorn Athletic ........ 3 Doune Castle .......... 5
Doune staged a storming fightback to seal the points after coming back twice to win a thrilling encounter.
Thorn took a 1-0 lead after 15 minutes. A cross to the back post saw Devine rise unchallenged to head home and 10 minutes later it looked bad for Doune when Des Currie conceded a penalty and Devine beat Steven Fotheringham from the spot.
Before the break Doune made it 2-1 when Chris Ogilvie crossed for Kenny Feaks to head strongly into the net.
Sean Heaver scored a spectacular equaliser after 52 minutes. Fotheringham hurled a long clearance deep into the heart of the Thorn defence and a retreating defender miscued his attempted header.
Given the tightest of angles, there seemed little threat when Heaver latched on to the loose ball but he smashed an unbelievable angled volley beyond the keeper and high into the opposite corner of the net to make it 2-2.
Within five minutes, though, Doune had gifted the home side the advantage again. Currie hesitated and allowed Devine to break forward. Fotheringham did brilliantly to block his first shot but Devine hit the rebound into the net to give him his hat-trick.
The Doune equaliser came after 70 minutes after fine work from the tireless Alan More, who chased a ball to the byeline before squaring across the face of the goal, where Dylan McGowan and volleyed home.
With 10 minutes left on the clock Doune took the lead for the first time when Ogilvie’s pass to Heaver was smashed into the net from a narrow angle.
It was 5-3 after 86 minutes thanks to great solo goal by Ogilvie, who attacked the heart of the Thorn defence, jinking past one defender then another, and as the keeper advanced he calmly curled the ball beyond his dive into the far corner of the net.
Doune Castle: Fotheringham, D Innes, McClymont, Duncanson, Currie (Macaloney), Statter, A Innes (McGowan), Feaks (Graham), Ogilvie, More, Heaver Substitutes: Gallagher, Scott.