Lothian Thistle left deep in the mire by defeat at City

Edinburgh City beat Lothian Thistle 3-2 at Meadowbank to leave their visitors in a perilous position in second bottom spot in the East Seniors Central Taxis Premier Division with only two games remaining.

Thistle are now in a three-way battle with Vale of Leithen and Leith Athletic to avoid joining already-relegated Selkirk, with Vale having the advantage of four games left as opposed to their rivals who have only two games each remaining.

Lothian, after their 6-1 win at the weekend against Civil Service Strollers, took the lead through Andrew Sinclair before Andy Howat surged on to a Robbie Ross pass to equalise. In the second half City’s Ian McFarland and Gary Cennerazzo fired City into a 3-1 lead ahead and they missed several further opportunities before Lothian fought themselves back into contention with a header from Joe Murray to set up a grandstand finish.

“We made hard work of winning all three points because we certainly had chances to put the game to bed,” explained City’s co-manager, Gary Jardine. “I felt we deserved to win but at 3-2 we were a bit nervy.”

Lothian have proved to be a bogey team for City whose win was their first in this fixture in six attempts dating back to August 2008. A consequence of City’s win is that Tynecastle, managed by former City boss Tom Steven, cannot now be relegated.

In the First Division, Duns beat Berwick Rangers Reserves 5-4 while Kelso United beat Peebles Rovers 2-0.