Preston Athletic 4-1 Kirkcaldy & Dysart: Visitors have two players sent off as they lose league leadership

This East of Scotland League first division encounter exploded after about 19 minutes when the YM’s Ryan McGowan went in for a slide tackle close to the home dugout, which probably merited a yellow card.

However this caused a huge melee between a number of players from both sides including many from the home bench who also surrounded the referee.

Once the dust had settled the referee sent off Ryan McGowan and Mark Wilkie but left the home side with a full complement of both players and officials.

With a two-man disadvantage it was always going to be difficult for K & D after that.

K & D were then hit with a three-goal burst in a six-minute period which effectively killed the game.

Firstly, after 30 minutes, Preston won a free-kick outside the box which Hamilton struck low inside Dion Gear’s left hand post for the opening goal.

The inevitable second goal came after 34 minutes when Archibald slotted home, followed by a third after 36 minutes with Summers adding his name to the scoresheet, making it 3-0 at the break.

Dispite the difficult situation, nine-man K & D came out at the start of the second half and tried to push forward. They had a bit of a lifeline after 48 minutes when Preston were reduced to 10 men when Forsyth lashed out at Ryan McEwan in the box and was sent off, leaving just a one man advantage.

Manager Craig Ness introduced Rab Kinnaird and Scott Donald after 62 minutes for Ricki Cooper and Daryl Falconer to freshen things up and it didn't take Kinnaird long to make a difference when he scored after 69 minutes after good set-up play by Jay Bridgeford.

However any hopes of a dramatic comeback were shortlived as a minute later Preston added a fourth from Devlin.

K & D, now fifth with 23 points from 14 games, host Whitehill Welfare in the Kings Cup this Saturday with kick-off at 1.30pm.