Star missed out on a place in the Haig Gordon cup final against Newton Stewart by the narrowest of margins as they lost to Creetown on a penalty shoot-out. After two hours of football in horrible conditions it was the home side that progressed with four well taken spot kicks. Star though were just minutes away from victory but a goal in stoppage time took the match to extra time and eventual penalties. There were a lot of tired limbs on both sides at the end of the match and we get to do it all again at the same venue in less than 48 hours.
Star lined up by making half a dozen changes to the team that began against Nithsdale just two days before in the league. Surprisingly the opening half hour was pretty uneventful with both teams taking a safety first approach. However the game sprang into life with Ferrytoun left back Robbie Murray having the first noteworthy effort going narrowly wide. Minutes later Star opened the scoring when Russell Williamson rose majestically in the penalty area to head home Adam Jamieson fine corner kick. The home side finished the half strongly with Shay Meagher forcing Robbie Minto into a good save and the same player had the best chance of the half but his volley from Murrays diagonal ball flew over the bar. With seconds of the half remaining Star came within inches of doubling their lead when Dale Milligan latched on to Charlie Watson’s fine pass but his lob volley beat keeper Martin McCaulay but hit the top of the crossbar.
The second half saw Star put under a lot of pressure but they defended well. They struggled to get any decent possession and as a result it was wave after wave of attack. However they restricted the home side who struggled to cut them open and create decent chances. The biggest danger was from set plays and from one in the 55th minute Josh Rennie shot over when he should have at least hit the target. With 20 minutes left Meagher saw his shot from the edge of the box come back off the post and you began to think it might be Star’s night. Just when it seemed the Islecroft side had weathered the storm Creetown forced a corner into stoppage time. Striker Rennie made up for his earlier miss by finding space and nodding home from 6 yards to send the match into extra time.
Both teams had players falling with cramp in the extra half hour but at last Star began to become a threat again. Indeed the two best chances in that period fell to the visitors late on, first when Milligan shaved the outside of the post with a fine strike from inside the box and seconds later substitute Connor Potts fired over with keeper McCaulay to beat. So it was on to penalties and the home side netted with four well taken spot kicks from Jones, Mitchell, Rennie and Adair but unfortunately Star’s first effort from Ross Hunter was saved by McCaulay and though Milligan and Williamson both scored, when Ewan Gourlay saw his effort hit the inside of McCaulay’s right hand post and fly across goal and out, it was game over.
Both sets of players have very little time to recover as they meet again in the biggest match of the South league season. The pitch certainly held up well during this match and hopefully it will be playable at the weekend with no more rain forecast. Victory for Star will see them clinch the league title on their return to South league football, but a home win will mean Star needs four points from their last two matches to be crowned champions. Game on.

CREETOWN 1 DALBEATTIE STAR 1 aet Creetown won 4-2 on penalties
Rennie (90+1) Williamson (33)
HT 0-1 Att. 100
Jones scored 1-0: Hunter saved 1-0: Mitchell scored 2-0: Milligan scored 2-1: Rennie scored 3-1:
Williamson scored 3-2: Adair scored 4-2: E Gourlay missed 4-2.
CREETOWN: McCaulay, Rogers, Murray, Richardson, Hughes (Adair 82), Lowe (Jones 82), Meagher, Dunn, Rennie, Mitchell, Fyfe (Agnew 67)
Subs not used: McCulloch, Hanlin, Whorlow
Yellow Cards: Rogers, Agnew
DALBEATTIE STAR: Minto, Bryson (Swan 51), Jamieson, C Watson, Williamson, E Gourlay, McConaghie (McKeeman 83), Meechan (Potts 58), Hunter, Milligan, Shaw (Whitty 83)
Subs not used: G Gourlay, Pietsch
Yellow Cards: Meechan, Jamieson
Ref: C Telfer