Broxburn end league season on high note
Broxburn Athletic ended their East of Scotland Premier Division campaign in style with a resounding home win over Sauchie.
Three goals in the opening half hour ensured Chris Townsley’s men finished the league season on a high note with a commanding 3-0 victory that saw them jump above their opponents on goal difference to seal sixth place in the final table.
The Brox got off to the perfect start when Jackson Barker teed up Ross Nimmo with his cross being diverted into the net by Gary Brass inside four minutes.
They doubled their lead moments later as Nimmo bagged his second assist with a cutback to Barker that was duly slammed home.
The hosts continued to dominate proceedings and they spurned several chances before adding to their tally on 33 minutes in somewhat fortuitous fashion as a Brass strike from just outside the box took a deflection off team-mate Greg Nicol, deceiving Charles Clark in the Sauchie goal and finding the net.
The pattern of play continued for much of the remainder of the game but Athletic were unable to add to their lead with Nimmo and Brass squandering chances to further extend their gap while Connor Wallace had precious little to do in the Brox goal.
Elsewhere, Linlithgow Rose’s disappointing end to the Premier Division continued as they fell to a 2-1 loss away to Penicuik Athletic.
That result wasn’t enough for the Cuikie to be crowned champions, however, with Tranent taking that honour on goal difference after they picked up a comfortable 2-0 win over Jeanfield Swifts.
The Rose were in a three-way battle for the title until the final few weeks, ultimately fading away and ending their campaign with a five game winless run.
After a nervy first half, Linlithgow fell behind just after the interval through Nicky Reid but the Rose pegged them back on 76 minutes as Mark Stowe slotted home an equaliser from the spot.
The hosts flung everything forward in search of a winner that they needed to have any chance of promotion and they finally netted two minutes into injurytime as Reid headed home a Scott McCrory-Irving cross for the three points that ultimately wasn’t enough for them given Tranent’s victory.
In Conference X, Stoneyburn almost produced a shock away at Syngenta but ultimately fell to a 1-0 defeat with Josh Grigor netting the game’s only goal while Fauldhouse United were on the wrong end of a seven-goal thriller at Park View in new manager Iain Diack’s first game in charge.
West Calder United picked up the three points, coming back from 3-1 down to win 4-3.
Craig Johnston made it a remarkable eight goals in two games as he followed up his five for the Cauther last week with a hat-trick against the Hoose.
Armadale Thistle’s bid for a King Cup semi-final clash with Livingston United fell agonisingly short on Tuesday night as they lost 3-0 on penalties to Dunipace following a thrilling 4-4 encounter.
Ruari MacLennan, Colin Strickland, Scott Dalziel and Robbie Feeney netted for the Dale who were two minutes from victory when Dunipace bagged an equaliser and ultimately went on to win the shoot-out.