PAIR OF THREES THUMP PRESTON
Hat tricks from Danny Dunglinson and Tommy Muir helped Star to an emphatic win over Preston Athletic in a fairly one sided encounter at Islecroft. As a result of this Star go into their final league match against East Kilbride next week requiring a draw to ensure fourth place meaning they would finish above heavyweights such as Spartans, Whitehill Welfare and University of Stirling. Yet again it was a very young line up for the Star but those youngsters combined superbly with the more experienced players to produce an accomplished performance.  
It took 13 minutes for Star to open the scoring when a Lewis Sloan corner was cleared only as far as Danny Dunglinson who volleyed the ball home in spectacular fashion from 20 yards in off the post. Six minutes later it was nearly number two when a brilliant run by Tommy Muir down the right saw his cross headed down by Jack Steele to Sloan but he pulled his effort wide. However it didn’t take too long for it to be 2-0 as in the 25th minute Muir got the first of his three when he headed home Sloan’s cross from six yards out.
The visitors then had their best spell but they never really threatened Euan Drysdale in the home goal though they did make life a bit more difficult for Star. However both Steele and Sloan both went close but at half time the advantage remained at two.
I took just two minutes of the second half for the home side to score the third and it was a repeat of the second as Muir headed in a Sloan cross from close range. Seconds later Muir combined well with Dunglinson but the midfielders shot flew just wide. In the 54th minute Dunga scored his second when Sloan picked him out from a corner and he netted from 20 yards.
Just after the hour Sloan and Dunglinson set up substitute Johnny Baxter but he missed the target. In the 74th minute Tommy Muir completed his first ever hat trick at this level as he collected Sloan’s pass and fired low past Brennan from 10 yards. All that remained now was to see if Danny Dunglinson could record his first ever hat trick for Star. However keeper Bennnan was doing his utmost to keep the score down as he saved well from Sloan and Hugh Cameron. But with just two minutes left Dunga scored to make it 6-0 when Sloan flicked the ball to him and he rounded the keeper and slipped the ball into the empty net.
Next week Star finish off their league programme at home to East Kilbride needing a draw to seal fourth place. Although Star has a 100% league record against Kilby over the two years of the Lowland League, the Lanarkshire side are on a brilliant run just now and fully deserve to end the season as runners up to Edinburgh City.    
DALBEATTIE STAR 6         PRESTON ATHLETIC 0
Dunglinson (13, 54, 88)
Muir (25, 47, 74)
DALBEATTIE STAR, Drysdale, Neill, Park, Anderson, Cameron, Dunglinson, Wells (Todd 66), Steele, Cook (Baxter 62), Sloan, Muir (Kerr 74)
Subs not used: None
Yellow Cards: Wells
PRESTON ATHLETIC: Brennan, Gibson, O’Hara, J Todd, Bruce, S Devlin, L Todd (Thomson 70), Henderson, P Devlin, Aitchison, M Todd
Subs not used: Thomson, McCuley, Kirk
Yellow Cards: None
Ref: C Haswell
Assistants: D K McQuire & R Carr