Brox’s title bid given boost by late winner
Grant’s strike sees off stuffy Sauchie in a tight match
Broxburn Athletic continued their push towards a title challenge with a hard- fought victory over Sauchie courtesy of a late winner from John Grant.
The defender’s lifted shot into the net in the 84th minute was the climax of a frustrating afternoon for Athletic with their Sauchie counterparts unfortunate not to obtain at least a point from the game.
Emanating once again from the Tony Macaroni Arena as Albyn Park continues to be renovated, there was to be no repeat of the 4- 3 thriller that Broxburn duked out with Dunbar United two weeks before in similar weather conditions.
Instead it was a game of missed chances, broken-down attacks and offside traps set from both sides.
Broxburn started off enthused but were quickly met with a well organised Sauchie system that did well to cut off passages of play towards star striker Zander Miller.
It was Athletic captain Nick Locke who initially managed to break through Sauchie’s midfield and elected to pass towards Conor Kelly but made his decision a little bit later than required.
The visitors mustered up the better chances in the first half as a David Cross shot was blocked before Steven Dolan was unfortunate not to score from a free header 25 minutes in.
A couple of minutes later there were shouts for a Sauchie penalty as Mark Finlayson went down in the box under pressure, but referee Andy Gamble waved play on much to the chagrin of the travelling support.
Locke won a foul up the other end of the park outside the box but unlike his fantastic freekick two weeks prior, his low drive was easily saved by Darren Dolan.
His captain counterpart, Craig Donaldson, was impressive for Sauchie as he dictated their play in the centre of the pitch.
It was déjà vu again for the Broxburn defenders as they gave Dolan the freedom of Almondvale to bullet a header just past the side netting, leaving Broxburn’s management team frustrated on the touchline.
There was a marked improvement from Athletic after they emerged from halftime.
Grant pushed Darren Dolan into an instinctive save while Craig Scott was unlucky with his effort sailing over the bar.
Sauchie, who are in a relegation dogfight, began playing firmly on the counterattack, with their two strikers causing issues at the back for Broxburn.
Meaty challenges were starting to fly in as both sides went searching for three valuable points with the referee bringing out the yellow card on more than one occasion, including for a stramash in the box between Broxburn sub Greg Binnie and Sauchie keeper Dolan.
It was Broxburn who would have the final word as a cornerkick was swung in and full-back Grant was on hand to mop up the clearance, sailing the ball over everyone else to nestle in the bottom right-hand corner of the net to seal the victory.
Coupled with Bo’ness United being held to a draw at home to Dunbar United, the Brox could have ignited a push to the title as they climb in to second place.
They sit nine points behind leaders United, but have two games in hand.