Amateurs: Treble is on for West End United

West End United manager Lee Watson is eyeing up a potential treble for his table-topping Sunday Amateur Division One side in the wake of their latest league win, a 4-1 success over Roseburn Thistle.
West End United extended their unbeaten run to 13 matchesWest End United extended their unbeaten run to 13 matches
West End United extended their unbeaten run to 13 matches

Stewart Brown put United ahead at The Gyle Playing Fields after 30 minutes, but a makeshift Roseburn Thistle side kept battling and they equalised six minutes later through a Dean Anderson own goal.

But United regained the lead just before half-time and added two further strikes in the second period to increase their lead to nine points at the top of the table, and extend their unbeaten run to 13 matches.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Only four more points are required for West End to seal the league crown and, with the team still retaining an interest in the Edinburgh Cup and League Cup, Watson is looking for a clean sweep of trophies.

“Depending on how other results go, we just need the four points to secure the title and I’m absolutely delighted for all the players because they’ve worked hard and have often had to play in positions they are not used to,” said the West End manager.

“At this level it can be hard to name a consistent team week in week out and you have to deal with absences, but we’ve done really well over the course although I thought Roseburn gave us a really hard game.

“We played them at the Oriam earlier in the season and won very convincingly, but they made it harder for us today on a really muddy surface.“But that’s us played each team twice now and it’s important we stay focused because we’ve got very important fixtures coming up that will hopefully get us over the line.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The game started at a frenetic pace with both sides not afraid to put the challenges in, but it was United who took the lead on the half hour through Brown’s curling effort from outside the area.

Roseburn forced a corner from a Lewis Scott shot and from the resultant set-piece which was played in by Alex Irimea, the ball appeared to take a slight deflection off Anderson and into the net past the unsighted keeper Steven Syme.

Scott McCluskey then restored West End’s lead with a deflected effort on 39 minutes that beat Gary Ulke in the Roseburn goal. The keeper went on to make some important stops throughout the match.

West End increased their lead on 61 minutes when after a Gordon McKeadie header had hit the bar, David Robertson pounced on the rebound to bundle home.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Play was then held up for a couple of minutes as Alan Ciechalski required treatment following a heavy challenge and was unable to continue with Sanjeevan Sidhu being introduced to the fray.

Roseburn remained dangerous on the break but they fell further behind on 72 minutes when substitute Kevin Dunn played a defence-splitting pass through to David Caesar who finished cooly from close range.

Roseburn coach Martin Jamieson had Ulke to thank again in the closing minutes with Robertson and Sean McAllister both denied by the Thistle custodian as West End United looked for further goals. A potential fifth goal for United was ruled out for offside by the referee.

West End United: Steven Syme, David Penrice, Paul Lindsay, Dean Anderson, Sean McAllister, Scott McCluskey, David Caesar, Kenny Burns, Gordon McCreadie, David Robertson, Stewart Brown, Kevin Dunn, James Ketchin, Scott Sutherland, Lee Watson.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Roseburn Thistle: Gary Ulke, Michael McCafferty, Ryan Cairncross, Jonny Hill, Ian Ring-McLeod, Steven Scott, Alex Irimea, Steven Fenton, Lewis Scott, Kieran Duncan, Alan Ciechalski, Alan Grant, Sanjeevan Sidhu, Martin Jamieson.

Related topics: