Jamie Semple hat-trick versus old club Broomhill helps halt losing run for Gala Fairydean Rovers

Saturday’s 3-2 win at Dumbarton’s Moreroom.com Stadium was a welcome return to winning ways for the Galashiels side after three league defeats by five-goal margins on the bounce – by 5-0 at Celtic B, 6-1 hosting East Kilbride and 5-0 again at Linlithgow Rose – and a 3-2 South Region Challenge Cup knockout at East of Scotland Football League premier division outfit Tynecastle earlier this month.

Semple’s goals on Saturday were scored on eight minutes from a Liam Watt cross, 71 by dinking home goalkeeper Luke Scullion and 78 from a Danny Galbraith assist.

Kirk McKnight got one back for the hosts on 41 minutes and Max Wright netted their other on 87.

That result, only manager Martin Scott’s side’s second league win of the season, leaves them 14th in the table on seven points from as many fixtures ahead of a visit from 12th-placed Stirling University to Netherdale this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm.

Semple was glad to see his shooting boots do the business, saying: “It was good to finally get a goal in the league.

“I’d scored in a cup competition but I hadn’t scored in the league, so getting three goals at once was really good.

“I’d scored one goal in the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup against Glenrothes but I’d played six league games and hadn’t scored and I was kind of thinking about that, but then all of a sudden three came along, so that helped.”

The 22-year-old striker, signed from Broomhill in July after prior stints at Motherwell, Cove Rangers and East Fife, was also pleased to have helped stop Rovers’ losing run stretching to a handful of games, saying: “We’d had hard fixtures and we weren’t getting the results we wanted, but Saturday’s win was a good result to get us back on track and we can hopefully build up momentum and kick on for the rest of the season.”

Looking ahead to this weekend, he added: “It’s Stirling Uni next. I played against them last year with Broomhill and they were decent. It’ll be a tough game as they train every day at uni so they’re effectively full-time.

“It’s going to be tough but it’s a game we’re looking forward to and can hopefully take three points from.”