South Challenge Cup: Hill of Beath and Lochore progress

However, Crossgates Primrose and Lochgelly Albert failed to join them, whilst Dundonald Bluebell fell to a disappointing home defeat in the East of Scotland League, Premier Division.

Hill of Beath Hawthorn 3 Edinburgh University 0, South Challenge Cup, second round

A much-changed Hill of Beath Hawthorn side moved into the third round after a hard-working win over Edinburgh University at Keirs Park.

The hosts were missing eight players for the tie, but new boss Robbie Raeside and his players enjoyed a fine afternoon.

The blustery wind made life difficult for both sides, but the Haws had the better of things in the early stages, although it took them until the 27th minute to grab the lead when Joe Kinninmonth brought down a good cross and fired a shot wide of the visiting goalkeeper.

His opposite number, Blair Penman, made two very good saves to keep the students at bay as one goal separated the teams at the break.

Hill of Beath started to build pressure in the second half and, 20 minutes into it, Dan Watt held off a strong challenge to fire home for their second goal.

Five minutes later, Jordan Tosh was pulled down in the University box, and the young forward got up to fire in the resultant penalty and see Haws through to round three.

Jordan Tosh added Haws' third goal on Saturday. (Image: David Wardle.)

It was another good result for Hill of Beath, in what has been a fine run in league and cup football for them, and Raeside praised the way his much-changed side handled the tie.

He commented: "We had a number of players back in the side after time out of action, such as Russell Grierson, who has been out for 18 months with a cruciate injury, and they knuckled down to the task against a side which made life difficult for us and we achieved our aim of making the third round."

Lochore Welfare 2 Ashfield 1, South Challenge Cup, second round, after extra time.

Lochore showed resilience to make round three of the South Challenge Cup against a strong West of Scotland League, First Division Ashfield side.

The Welfare made a great start to the tie by taking the lead in three minutes, with Lucas Reilly on target, but the visitors soon showed they were no mugs.

James Adam's hosts continued to have the better of possession, but struggled to engineer a second, through some good defending by their opponents, and the pattern was much the same after half-time.

Despite Lochore searching for a second goal, Ashfield were dangerous in their forays forwarded and, in the 67th minute, levelled the tie.

There were chances for Lochore to win it in normal time, but they were not taken, and it was on to the extra period where, at the interval, the scores were still level.

Then, with penalties looming, Michael Watt was the home hero when he slotted in the winner.

Adam noted: "It was great to get through with what was a depleted squad, against a very decent team."

Maryhill 3 Lochgelly Albert 1, South Challenge Cup, second round

Lochgelly Albert suffered disappointment in their South Challenge Cup second round tie despite a decent first half display at Maryhill.

The Berts, who have been doing well in Division Three of the East of Scotland League, had their West of Scotland League, Division Two opponents under pressure at times during the first period in Glasgow.

However, Albert goalkeeper, Jos Park, made two fine saves to ensure his side turned around level.

Then, early in the second period, Lochgelly’s top scorer, Scott Russell, was fouled in the Maryhill box, and he converted the resultant penalty to put the visitors in front.

Back came Maryhill though and, 10 minutes later, a home frontman was given too much time in the Berts’ box and the game was level.

Soon after, some slack defending by Lochgelly saw Maryhill grab the lead, before Russell came close to squaring the tie, only to see his shot saved.

As Lochgelly piled forward looking for a leveller, they were caught short at the back and, in a Maryhill breakaway, a penalty was conceded, which was converted, to give the hosts a place in round three.

Berts committee man, Derek Patrick, felt the visitors paid for some poor defending: "Good work at the back has been a key part of our excellent start to the league programme, but in this game we simply made too many errors."

Thorn Athletic 3 Crossgates Primrose 2, South Challenge Cup, second round

This South Challenge Cup tie was a classic game of two halves, with Primrose ruling the roost in the first 45 minutes, but then falling completely out of the picture.

The West of Scotland League, Third Division leaders side found their East of Scotland League, First Division opponents too sharp for them in the opening phase of the game, with Scott Hynd firing the visitors ahead in nine minutes with a good finish.

There were other chances for Primrose, and the Johnstone-based side didn’t really worry them too much, so when Lyle Kellichan made it 2-0 before the interval, things were looking good for the visitors.

But, in the second period, the Renfrewshire side started to pose real problems for Crossgates and pulled one back.

As the Primrose defence started to struggle, Thorn sensed they had a chance, and they levelled midway through the half.

Crossgates were starting to find things difficult and, as the visitors’ defending became ragged, Thorn struck again to make the third round.

Dundonald Bluebell 1 Luncarty 4, East of Scotland League, Premier Division

A very poor second-half performance saw Dundonald Bluebell fall to their second successive East of Scotland Premier League defeat with this reverse to Luncarty at Moorside.

The opening 45 minutes saw the hosts, with only 12 fit players and under-20s on the bench, very much in the match as both sides created chances.

Luncarty took the lead in 30 minutes with a goal which came from a slack home throw, after a corner was given away and the chance coming from the set piece, but they came back into it and drew level before the half-time whistle when Tyler McKenzie struck a fine shot from the edge of the box.

However, in the second period, it was not good at all for the ‘Bell, with Luncarty grabbing the lead after an hour when a cross from the left landed in the top corner.

Eight minutes later, a visiting raid was not cleared and Barry Sibanda’s tackle saw a penalty awarded, which was converted, and a fourth goal arrived for the visitors later in the game after Bluebell were caught on the break.

They have now conceded 10 goals in their last two games, and boss Jason Dair commented: "We were down to the bare bones in terms of numbers, but some of the goals we gave away were poor from our point of view and very avoidable.

"We must improve."

Saturday’s fixtures: East of Scotland League, Premier Division: Hill of Beath Hawthorn v Edinburgh University (2.30pm), Hutchison Vale v Dundonald Bluebell (3pm). First Division: Crossgates Primrose v Newtongrange Star (2.30pm), Blackburn United v Lochore Welfare (2.30pm). Third Division: Ormiston Primrose v Lochgelly Albert (2.30pm).