Edinburgh City just fall short against league leaders Kelty Hearts

Gary Naysmith's Edinburgh City went down to Kelty Hearts.

Gary Naysmith’s men welcomed the cinch League 2 leaders to Ainslie Park looking to peg back last season’s Lowland League champions, who are unbeaten this season and threatening to run away with the league title.

City started the game well, though, and got themselves ahead in the 16th minute when Ouzy See cut inside and buried the ball beyond Darren Jamieson in the Kelty goal.

See’s strike gave City a platform to build from, but Kelty have threats all over the pitch and it did not take them long to level matters. Six minutes later, Kallum Higginbotham slipped Nathan Austin through and he coolly finished beyond Brian Schwake.

Kelty had the wind in their sails and they went into the break ahead thanks to their captain Michael Tidser, who scored a terrific free-kick on 37 minutes. It could so easily have been 3-1 at half-time had Schwake not made an excellent save from Austin.

However, the third goal was only delayed by a couple of minutes. It was Austin again who was causing the problems for City and he was teed up by Joe Cardle to make it 3-1 for the visitors.

Kevin Thomson’s men were in control at this point and Naysmith tried to change the momentum of the match, bringing on Ryan Shanley to reinforce their attack. It was Schwake, though, who had to look lively to make a fine save as Kelty tried to totally kill off their hosts.

City were handed a lifeline with just minutes when Jamieson spilled a routine shot from Innes Murray into the net to set up a grandstand finish. However, Kelty held on for what could be a crucial away win for the Fifers, who have the biggest budget in the league.

Kelty are now seven points clear of Stirling Albion, who play on Saturday, at the top of the league, with a gap beginning to emerge at the summit.

City are now 12 points behind them, sitting in fifth place in the table after ten matches.