Fifth league loss on bounce for Gala Fairydean Rovers
Dundee’s Lochee United extended Gala Fairydean Rovers’ losing streak in the Scottish Lowland Football League East to a handful of matches with a 3-2 win on the road in the Borders on Saturday.
It’s now over a month since manager Martin Scott’s team registered their only win to date of this term – by 1-0 away to Cowdenbeath back on Saturday, July 25, the new season’s opening day – and they’ll have to wait until Saturday, September 12, to try to claim their second away to Musselburgh Athletic as they’ve got this coming weekend off.
Kick-off at the Olivebank Arena come the 12th is at 3pm and though the East Lothian outfit, like Lochee, are newcomers to Scottish football’s fifth tier after finishing as runners-up to Hill of Beath Hawthorn in the East of Scotland Football League’s premier division last time round, they’re no strangers to Fairydean, having provided pre-season friendly opposition in recent summers, winning 4-1 away in July 2024 and 3-2 at home a year later.
Their last competitive meeting was a 5-2 second-round South Region Challenge Cup knockout on the road for Rovers in October 2022 and they also went out at home to Musselburgh at the same stage of the same competition in September 2018, losing out by 1-0.
Gala go into that game sitting 14th in their 16-team table, on three points from six fixtures, one points and two places worse off than their hosts, beaten 3-1 away to Brechin City at the weekend.
Saturday gone’s loss to Lochee, fifth-placed finishers in the Scottish Midlands Football League’s premier division last season and currently fourth in their new standings, on 13 points from half a dozen matches, was Fairydean’s sixth on the bounce in all competitions as well as their fifth on the trot in the league, their last win having been back on Wednesday, August 5, by 12-1 hosting Edinburgh Community in round two of the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup.
Their scorers at their Netherdale Stadium home ground in Galashiels were Liam Fagan on seven minutes and debutant Daniel Martins on 72, with Callum Moore at the double, on 19 and 31, and Fraser Donaldson, on 40, netting at the other end of the pitch past home No 1 Reece Murray.
Also starting for the hosts, captained by Danny Galbraith, were Greg Macpherson, Lewis Hall, Ethan Dougal, James Clare, Lennon Connolly, Jared Lyons and Daniel Strickland.
Ross Lamb was brought on for Macpherson on 78 minutes, Arnault Kasa for Clare on 59 and Che Reilly for Galbraith, Zack Tomany for Dougal and Tylar Denholm for Strickland on 46. David Chalmers and Gregor Lamb were unused substitutes.
Ahead of their trip to Musselburgh a week on Saturday, Rovers host Heart of Midlothian B for a KDM Evolution Trophy fixture next Tuesday, with kick-off at 7.45pm.
That’s their third fixture in this season’s competition, alias the Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup, and they’re still waiting for their first point after losing 3-0 away to Stranraer on Tuesday, August 25, and 4-0 at home to Rangers B two weeks prior.