Dalziel defeat kicks Doune out of league
Final blow confirms relegation from Caledonian
Doune Castle ..... 0 Dalziel HSFP ...... 1
Defeat in the final home game of the season on Wednesday night confirmed Doune’s relegation from the Caledonian League Premier Division in a match that typified a season of frustration.
As has happened too often throughout the campaign, Doune were the more likely side for the majority of the game but yet again they were unable to translate their dominance into goals before conceding a cheap goal.
Inside the first 10 minutes, Jonny Burns and Lukasz Duszynski both came close to giving the home side the lead then Graham McClymont then saw his effort on the run flash a yard over.
The sides remained locked at 0-0 at the break.
Two minutes after the restart, Alan Inglis hit a right foot volley on the turn but saw his effort fly straight to the keeper.
Dalziel snatched the allimportant goal after 53 minutes.
Callum Haig miscued his kick out and the ball dropped just inside the Castle half. Kenny Feaks slipped as he moved to bring the ball under and the ball squirmed loose.
A Dalziel defender latched on to the ball and raced forward unchallenged to smash a shot past Haig from 16 yards.
Doune dominated the closing stages but were unable to turn their pressure into goals.
With the game in its dying stages they fired another ball into the box.
Kenny Feaks and Alan Inglis challenged for the ball with a defender and the deflected ball looked destined for the top corner until the keeper managed to turn it on to the underside of the bar and it was scrambled clear.
Dalziel withstood the late Castle siege and their single goal victory was enough to seal Doune’s fate. ●On Saturday, Doune endured a cruel end to their match at Thorn Athletic.
Having pulled back to 1-1 and seeing two good penalty claims turned down, Castle almost snatched a late winner only for Alan More’s shot to crash off the bar.
Then as so often happens, the home side broken upfield to score what proved to be the winner.
Thorn opened the scoring with a goal which had a large element of good fortune.
Alan More’s studs seemed to catch on the dry surface, forcing him to stumble and fall and the Thorn forward latched on to the loose ball to score.
The home keeper twice produced excellent saves to deny Andy Innes and Alan Inglis but Doune deservedly made it 1-1 after 57 minutes.
Kerr Murphy held off a challenge to turn the ball inside to Inglis whose pass found Lukasz Duszynski.
He wriggled free before squaring across goal and Jonny Burns timed his run perfectly to net.
In quick succession, Doune were twice denied clear penalty awards.
Firstly, Alan Inglis was bundled to the ground and then Duszynski received a scything challenge from behind.
The referee dismissed both