Linlithgow Rose end trophy drought they see off Gala Fairydean Rovers in East of Scotland Qualifying Cup final

Linlithgow Rose ended their eight year trophy drought by bringing the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup back to Prestonfield following a 3-1 success over Lowland League outfit Gala Fairydean Rovers.
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A double from striker Alan Docherty either side of the interval at Penicuik Park and a late Sean Heever effort sealed the club’s first piece of silverware since they lifted the Fife & Lothians Cup in 2014.

Manager Gordon Herd, appointed in August by president Jon Mahoney, is hopeful the triumph can breed more success.

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“It’s eight years without a trophy and it’s the first in the new set up as such which the club has been a part of for the last two or three years, we are delighted,” said Herd. “I thought in the first half we were the better team by a mile and then to be fair to Gala, they came out of the traps in the second half and they caused us a lot of problems.

Lewis McMinn [goalkeeper] made some big saves, he’s had a bit of a hard season but he stood up today, he was excellent. The subs that we made, made a wee bit of a difference and I thought we deserved the win in the end.

“We’ve got a young squad, cup finals are new to them so we were really keen to get this one over the line and start to breed that winning mentality and success. I think they deserve it, they pulled back a big lead in the league and then we fell short. Making two finals out of three, they can be super proud, but we still have another cup final to go next Sunday so we will try and keep the celebrations subdued until then.

“I’m happy for the committee because it’s a new committee who have been starved of success, whereas the old committee were drowned in success.

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“They have worked their backsides off, and maybe a lot of people thought it was a bit of a gamble bringing us in as a management team; I hope we have repaid them and I hope we can bring more silverware over the next few years.”