St Andrews Utd 1-1 Kirkcaldy and Dysart

Kirkcaldy and Dysart............1

St Andrews United hosted basement side Kirkcaldy with a view to getting back to winning ways - but ill-discipline proved costly.

United’s cause was not helped when player/manager Charlie King hobbled off the park after five minutes with an ankle problem.

Ross Cunningham fired the first shot of the match over the bar before Daryl Falconer missed the far post with a weak effort on the half-hour mark.

A dour first half therefore ended goalless but Kirkcaldy began the second period in determined fashion when Cooper went close.

Ireland then forced Shaw into making the best save of the afternoon from a powerful drive yet the two best players on the park were injured shortly afterwards. Saints’ Kyle Sneddon and YM’s Cooper each required lengthy spells of treatment prior to leaving the field.

The opening goal of the contest finally arrived in the 65th minute when Jason Penman burst on to a clever pass from Owen Andrew before picking out Jake Grady at the far post.

The young substitute calmly took a couple of touches en-route to smashing the ball past Robert Wilson in the Kirkcaldy goal.

Andrew also went close with a header in the 75th minute but the home side lost all momentum when Falconer was shown a red card for tugging Connor Kirkton’s shirt. The tall striker was unlucky to be booked for that incident, though there were no excuses for the yellow card he had received moments earlier as a result of swearing at the referee.

Four members of St Andrews United’s staff were shown yellow cards for dissent as the game progressed and the referee was kept busy throughout the final 20 minutes due to a series of hard tackles.

The visitors took advantage of the extra man combined with United’s lack of discipline and John Smith wasted a glorious chance when his free header missed.

Unfortunately, the Saints’ defence performed no better during Kirkcaldy’s next attack and Ronnie Martin gleefully smashed the ball past Shaw to make the score 1-1 in the 87th minute. There was an element of luck about that goal because Ryan O’Connor could not block the cross due to an opponent slipping right in front of him.