Swifts drop into Play Off spot

Jeanfield dropped into the relegation play-off spot with a lackluster performance against Fauldhouse United at Riverside Stadium on Saturday.

The home side started well and were causing "the hoose" to make errors but there was no end product to the good work that was being done. With 25 minutes on the clock Swifts took the lead.

A long clearance from Mark Mitchell was touched on by Robbie Holden to Scott Sutherland who fired the ball into the net. Thats 3 goals in 2 games for the talented 17 year old who seems to have found his feet at the club.

However after this the home side switched off and allowed the visitors to take control of the game and they certainly made the most of it.

They equilised when Swifts failed to clear a corner and the forward reacted 1st in the box to fire past Mitchell from 6 yards out to put the teams level at the break,

During the interval it was stressed to the home side that they were now in a battle and they had to get back to playing as they were when they took the lead but inside the opening 15 minutes the game was out of Swifts hands.

Fauldhouse were awarded a soft penalty when a loose back header was seized upon by the forward who went to go round Mitchell. He looked to have got past him then hit the deck but the referee pointed to the spot and booked the Swifts number 1 who was then punished again as the penalty was fired past him into the net.

Swifts looked to get back into the game when Sutherland was played through on the angle. He bore down on the goal but Connolly in the goal made a comfortable save with his feet.

With Swifts getting more bodies forward to get the leveler it was inevitable that they would be hit on the counter attack & that is what happened for the 3rd goal.

We lost the ball on the right hand side around halfway and the Fauldhouse attacker drove forward before slipping the ball into the box for his attacking colleague who fired high past Mitchell into the roof of the net.

Swifts tried to get back into the game but to no avail as the visitors packed numbers in defense as they looked for the vital 3 points. Even when the left back was shown a red card with 15 minutes to go the home side toiled as they tried to get a way back into the match.

Overall we were out fought by a far hungrier Fauldhouse team who after a slow start were up for the battle. An improvement will be required this week as former North Super League champions Hermes head to Perth on Scottish Cup Duty. Swifts will be looking to progress to 4th round for the 1st time since 2013 where we reached the last 16 only to be knocked out by eventual runners up & now Super League rivals Linlithgow Rose.