St Andrews United: Late Ross Cunningham goal seals 11th straight league win at Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare

On a truly miserable evening, the home side started out with the intention of avenging a 5-1 defeat in the reverse fixture only 16 days previously, but they were to be out of luck.

Saints and the Miners each suffered from goals being disallowed for offside in the opening minutes.

Firstly, Lily’s Scott Hunter raced towards goal and dispatched the ball low past Calum Brodie into the net before Jordan Mackenzie turned home a mishit Ryan Dignan shot at the other end.

However, both players were well offside and their efforts were rightly chalked off by referee King.

Dignan was next to threaten when he turned his defender smartly only to lash the ball over the bar from a tight angle but Saints were struggling to turn decent possession into chances at that point.

When one opportunity did come along, Graham Hay’s back post header from a corner rebounded to him and the big defender curled a shot over the crossbar.

The best chance of the first half then fell to the home side as a long ball was misjudged by Hay, which created a two-on-one situation for the attackers.

The ball was fed out to Shaun Hill yet the striker inexplicably dallied when he had the chance to shoot. When Hill eventually shot, his effort was comfortably saved by Brodie so the score remained goalless at the interval.

Into the second half and the play began to resemble the wet and windy weather; horrendous.

Easthouses also passed up the first good opportunity of the second period when Brodie parried a low cross into the path of Hill but the striker stabbed the ball past the far post as he slid along the wet surface.

A few moments later, Saints were awarded an indirect free kick six yards out for a backpass offence.

Unfortunately, Lewis Sawers was injured whilst attempting to take the kick quickly and he limped off the park as a result.

Then, as often happens in these situations, the free-kick was blocked by the mass ranks of Lily players congregated on the goal line.

Play subsequently degenerated into a midfield battle with few chances at either end until United made the breakthrough in the last minute of normal time.

A Tom Milne cross from the right was cleared only as far as Ross Cunningham and the little left back drove the ball low into the net from just inside the box to spark wild celebrations.

St Andrews United therefore secured three vital points in the promotion race, which allows the league’s second-placed team put further ground between themselves and the chasing pack.

Cunningham’s late winner also made the soggy journey home much more bearable for the small band of travelling supporters.

The win puts United onto 58 points from 24 games, four points behind leaders Whitburn having played one match more.