Tight at the top of Forth and Endrick

Four teams are separated by one point as the Forth and Endrick League enters its final stages.

Gargunnock have finished their fixtures and sit second on goal difference behind Gartocharn. Their only hope of the title is the leaders suffering a heavy reverse in their final match and Balfron Rovers and Blanefield Thistle losing their remaining fixtures.

Rovers and Thistle are level on points, with Rovers having played one game less.

Gartocharn dealt Gargunnock’s hopes a huge blow on Tuesday by handing out a 5-0 thumping which helped them jump Gunny on goal difference. Their scorers were Dougie Wilson (3), Garry More and Ryan Degan.

Killearn’s league hopes may have gone but they went to Balfron on Tuesday with a couple of objectives: to gain a Telfer Cup place and to put one over their oldest rivals.

In excellent conditions the players provided a thrilling match with the result open for most of the game.

Cally McLaren put Balfron ahead after half an hour and the result remained unchanged until Scott Ross added a second quarter of an hour from the end.

Rovers welcome Thornhill tonight (Friday), when a win would see them leapfrog Gartocharn and Gargunnock and end Gunny’s slim hopes.

At Aberfoyle Blanefield’s aspirations took a knock when they dropped two points in a hard-fought 3-3 draw.

On Friday two first round Cameron Cup ties featured the four sides topping the league table. Gargunnock were due to play Balfron but the Gunny found themselves short of players and asked for a postponement.

Gartocharn and Blanefield met in competition for the fourth time this season.

With a win in the MacGregor Ferguson Cup final and two league wins, Thistle might have felt confident that they could register another victory.

They certainly looked to be in good form from the start and had much the better of the first half but they turned round goalless at the break.

Gartocharn stunned Blanefield at the start of the second half. From the kickoff they took the ball downfield with a series of sharp passes and when the ball reached Gary More he tucked it into the top corner of the goal. Time: 14 seconds.

That was game over. Blanefield tried to recover from the shock but they were less fluent than in the first half and, although they had a lot of the ball, they could not break down Gartocharn, who now go to Buchlyvie for the next round.

Two postponed league matches were also fitted in on Friday.

Killearn took the opportunity to have a good warm up for the cup at Buchlyvie’s expense, strolling to a 7-2 win. It was a similar story at Thornhill, where the home side notched a 6-1 result against struggling Drymen.

At a meeting of the league management on Monday Gartocharn were awarded a 3-0 win in respect of their unplayed match with Drymen.

The league is sponsored by James D Bilsland Ltd.