Gala Fairydean Rovers finish 13th in Lowland League after fifth straight league defeat to end campaign

A challenging league season extended until mid-May by the high number of coronavirus-related postponements earlier in the campaign came to its conclusion with a 2-1 home defeat for Rovers against University of Stirling on Tuesday night.

A Jamie Penker goal after 25 minutes had the students 1-0 up at the half-time interval.

Gala Fairydean Rovers’ top scorer Zander Murray – who recently rejected advances from other clubs to sign a contract extension with Gala until the end of next season – levelled the scores at 1-1 with a second half strike.

But Stirling Uni won it late on with a goal by Buronbek Mirzsalimov.

Rovers went into the Stirling Uni game having lost 3-1 at home to Bo'ness United in their penultimate Lowland League fixture of the season last Wednesday night.

Although Gala equalised Ryan Stevenson's 20th minute strike for the visitors with a 38th minute leveller by Murray, the BUs prevailed thanks to second half goals by Jamie McCormack and Gregor Nicol.

Rovers have ended their Lowland League campaign in 13th place on 37 points from their 34 matches.

Although their league duties are finished for this term, the Galashiels outfit still have one game to play this campaign and it’s a big one.

They will face Linlithgow Rose in the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup final on Sunday, May 29, venue still to be decided.