East of Scotland Qualifying Cup 3rd Round
Tuesday 08-Feb-22
Haws 2 - 1 Jeanfield Swifts
Scorers:- Calum Adamson & Daniel Watt
MOTM:- Ross MacLachlan

MATCH REPORT by Dave Edler

HAWS 2 JEANFIELD SWIFTS 1

On a miserable night of weather at Keir’s Park fair play to the 107 brave souls who braved the elements for this East of Scotland Qualifying Cup tie. The Haws management team shuffled the pack a little with this one, to give much needed game time to a few players who had been short of it over the past few weeks, so Michael Watt, Paul Quinn and Brandon Luke all found themselves in the starting line up.

The Haws faithful have been becoming accustomed to a fast start from their heroes and this match was no exception. It took just thirteen minutes for Callum Adamson to steal in at the near post to slot home and fans must have been wondering if they were about to witness another comfortable victory along the lines of the league win over the visitors earlier in the month.

But this time Jeanfield were to bite back. First up Christopher Scott rattled the Haws crossbar with Stuart Hall beaten all ends up and then Dayle Robertson fired narrowly wide. The men from Perth were not finished, however, and two minutes before the break they levelled things up as Christopher McLeish beat Hall with a near post header. In fairness it was the least they deserved.

H-T 1-1

Daniel Watt was introduced for the second period and he almost made an instant impact with a shot on the turn in the 50th minute, but it was straight at Mark Mitchell in the Swifts goal. Four minutes later Quinn almost restored the homesters lead, but his well struck effort from distance was deflected on to the crossbar. However Quinn was to prove the assist for what was to prove the winner. His flicked on header put Daniel Watt clean through on goal and the Haws front man kept his composure before calmly firing the ball home.

The final fifteen minutes turned into a real battle with the Swifts throwing everything at the home side without really creating a clear cut opening. However some robust challenges were giving the match officials a hard time in keeping on top of things as tempers threatened to boil over. Although Jeanfield were dominating possession at this stage the Haws still looked dangerous on the break, Daniel Watt firing narrowly over the bar in the 78th minute.

Two minutes later Quinn also went close but his free-kick was wide. The tackles kept going in and Mark Forbes found himself receiving his marching orders three minutes from time. Whilst Haws boss Jason Dair accepted contact had been made, he pointed out after the game that many far worse challenges had gone unpunished in the later stages of the match.

The Haws, though, dug in for the victory and they can now look forward to a trip to Prestonfield to face Linlithgow Rose in the Quarter Final.

FT Haws 2 - 1 Jeanfield

HAWS: Hall, Leishman, Grierson (sub. Kellichan 45 mins.), Mitchell, M. Watt, MacLachlan, Adamson, Connelly, Quinn, Elder (sub. D. Watt 45 mins.), Luke.

JEANFIELD SWIFTS: Mitchell, Reid, Struthers (sub. Dodd), Whitehead, Dolzanski, Scott, McLaren, F. Smith, McLeish, Simpson (sub. S. Smith), Fergus.

Attendance: 107

SHOTS ON TARGET: Haws 7 Jeanfield 6

SHOTS OFF TARGET: Haws 10 Jeanfield 7

CORNERS: Haws 2 Jeanfield 3

YELLOW CARDS: Haws 2 Jeanfield 3

RED CARDS: Haws 1 Jeanfield 0

HAWS MAN OF THE MATCH: ROSS MACLACHLAN.