EOSFL Premier Division
Haws 4 - 1 Jeanfield Swifts
Haws Scorers:- Lewis Elder (2), Ross Allum & Jake Mitchell
MOTM Jake Mitchell

HAWS 4 JEANFIELD SWIFTS 1

MATCH REPORT by Dave Edler

Keir’s Park saw a dry day for a change as Jeanfield Swifts made the journey down from Perth with a tough encounter expected against a team fifth in the table. The Haws welcomed new signing Ross Allum into the squad and the former Broxburn man went straight into the starting line-up in place of the injured Paul Quinn.

The team in red set about their business with real purpose in what was to prove a dominant opening 45 minutes of football from the home side. Lyle Kellichan set the tone with his fourth minute strike which, although high and wide, was to prove a portent for the attacking intent which was to follow.

Indeed it was Kellichan who fed Allum with eleven minutes on the clock, but his crossfield pass from the left was blasted over by the returning front man as he looked to make an instant impact. But that moment was still to arrive. First we were to witness some 16th minute controversy. Calum Adamson was in full flight and homing in on goal before he was taken out comprehensively by visiting defender Gregor Donald. Surely the last man? The referee had other ideas, however, and the card shown was only of a yellow colour.

Justice, though, was swiftly delivered as Lewis Elder superbly curled the resulting free-kick into the far corner of the net beyond the despairing dive of Sean Dalton. Swifts looked for an instant reply as Connor McLaren drove straight at Stuart Hall, whilst at the other end Elder had the chance of a second but fired tamely in Dalton’s direction.

The Swifts stopper was called into action again on 29 minutes when he had to intervene bravely at the feet of Adamson and the Haws attacks kept coming, with Daniel Watt shooting narrowly wide on the turn. The 161 in attendance started to wonder if the home side would rue missing some of these chances, especially when Jeanfield broke again nine minutes before the break, but Christopher McLeish’s effort lacked the power to seriously trouble Hall.

But seconds later the game started slipping away from the visitors. The moment Allum must have dreamt of the night before arrived as he received the ball with his back to goal before superbly turning his marker and driving into the net for a debut goal on his homecoming. Just three minutes later the whole team was in dreamland as Daniel Watt showed a deft touch to cushion the ball back to Elder to fire home his second and the Haws third.

As the Swifts discipline seemed to momentarily collapse Daniel Watt found himself clean through on goal just seconds after the latest restart, but he couldn’t find the power in his finish to beat Dalton. And there was still time for Jake Mitchell to test the visiting keeper who took the ball off his feet in the final minute of an amazing half for the Haws.

Half-Time Haws 3 Jeanfield Swifts 0

It looked as if Swifts must have had the ‘hair dryer’ treatment during the interval as they started the second period with far more urgency and purpose. Indeed they should have made an instant reduction to the arrears, but Dayle Robertson inexplicably headed wide from McLeish’s cross with the goal at his mercy. However Robertson soon made amends, slotting the loose ball home as the men from Perth got back in contention following a defensive mix up.

Fraser Smith drove wide for the visitors as the Haws started to wobble for a moment, but calm heads were quickly restored and they started moving forward with purpose again. In the 64th minute Daniel Watt was unlucky as his looping effort struck a post before falling harmlessly to safety. Adamson had a low drive that was straight at Dalton, while Elder was denied a hat-trick by a last gasp block.

Any lingering doubts about the destination of the points vanished in the 72nd minute. A corner from the left caused chaos in the visitors defence and a clever piece of acrobatics from Mitchell saw him scoop the ball home.

There was still time for Jonathan Galloway to see his effort deflected for a corner as the Haws saw out the remainder of the game without any further incident.

HAWS: Hall, Leishman, Grierson, Forbes (sub. Fleming 66 mins), Mitchell, Galloway, Adamson (sub. Connelly 81 mins), Allum (sub. Luke 71 mins), D. Watt, Elder, Kellichan. Subs Not Used: M. Watt, MacLachlan, Donaldson.

JEANFIELD: Dalton, Scott, Donald, Whitehead, Dolzanski, Robertson, McLaren (sub. Dodd 62 mins), Smith, McLeish (sub. Struthers 62 mins), Simpson, Fergus.

Attendance: 161

SHOTS ON TARGET: Haws 9 Jeanfield 5

SHOTS OFF TARGET: Haws 5 Jeanfield 5

CORNERS: Haws 4 Jeanfield 2

YELLOW CARDS: Haws 1 Jeanfield 3

RED CARDS: None

HAWS MAN OF THE MATCH: JAKE MITCHELL.