Rose went into Saturday’s match against Whitburn in the knowledge that nothing less than 3 points would sustain their flickering championship hopes. And that’s exactly what they achieved, showing tremendous grit and determination to twice come from behind before disposing of their local rivals – a result that knocked a huge dent in Whitburn’s own title ambitions.
Rose were desperate to build on their excellent performance the previous week but Jim Sinnet was once again forced to ring the changes to combat injuries which have caused havoc throughout the second half of the season. Keith Hogg joined Greg Denham and Kevin Donnelly on the list of injured central defenders and with Iain Gallagher also unavailable, Mark Tyrell teamed up with Scott Wilson in the centre of the Rose back four. Greg Burnett made a rare start at full back while Mark Bradley returned to his central midfield role.
Both teams made a tentative start as they struggled to produce any flowing football on a difficult surface. However Whitburn secured an early breakthrough in the 7th minute. Strickland beat the offside trap and his cross was nodded down by Roberts for Flanagan to lash the ball home from 10 yards. This gave Whitburn confidence as the Rose struggled to get a grip in midfield with Tyrell throwing himself in front of Roberts to block the Whitburn striker’s effort. With Whitburn pressing hard, Linlithgow fashioned an equaliser from nothing after 14 minutes. Logan’s long clearance from a corner was misjudged by Mbu and Gordon Herd raced clear of the Scotland junior international, rounded Walker and stroked the ball into an empty net.
Bolstered by their equaliser, Rose started to dominate possession without finding a cutting edge and struggled to beat Whitburn’s offside trap. Indeed Burnett showed great awareness as he intercepted a dangerous cross from Flanagan as Whitburn continued to threaten going forward. Carrigan then produced a superb ball into McArthur but the midfielder’s run was adjudged offside as his header went narrowly over. Some great play between McSween and Carrigan had Whitburn stretched as Rose turned the screw a little before Herd showed excellent perseverance to cause panic in the Whitburn defence and set up McSween who failed to get any power behind his shot. McSween was causing Whitburn real problems down the left hand side but Rose’s final ball was largely poor and all they had to show for their efforts was a Grady effort from 20 yards which went wide of Walker’s left hand post
There was a temporary diversion for the supporters on the covered terracing as both physios were required to tend to a Rose supporter who was a touch too enthusiastic in his efforts to retrieve the ball and suffered a crashing fall. Before he could recover, Whitburn rubbed salt in his wounds as they regained the lead in the 40th minute. Logan punched clear from a corner and Rose must have thought the danger was over as Burnett hooked the ball upfield. However, it was returned with interest into the middle of the Rose penalty area where Tyrell failed to make decent contact with his clearance. The ball dropped kindly for Strickland who placed the ball low to Logan’s right from 22 yards. The remainder of the half belonged to Whitburn and they almost added to their lead but Logan made a great block to thwart Roberts.
As the teams lined up for the second half, Feeney replaced an unwell Carrigan. Rose started well with Grady forcing himself up the right and Feeney almost breaking free. However the equaliser was not long in coming and in the 49th minute Herd played the ball wide to Burnett who took aim from fully 30 yards and crashed a ferocious shot against the Whitburn bar. Grady was quickest to react and nodded the rebound past Walker.
The goal stung Whitburn into action but now it was Rose’s turn to look dangerous on the break as McArthur shot narrowly over. Rose then suffered a blow as the excellent McSween limped off following a collision with Murphy before Strickland wasted an opportunity by shooting well over from a decent position.
McSween’s replacement James was quick to make a telling contribution to proceedings. After some good work on the left hand side he fired in an excellent cross that just evaded Feeney’s lunge. However the little forward was quick to retrieve the ball and as he cut across Alan Moonie, the full back clipped his legs and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Feeney picked himself up and converted the penalty to edge Rose ahead in the 58th minute.
Whitburn mustered themselves for the fightback and they posed the Rose plenty of questions. But Scott Wilson marshalled the Rose defence well and won the aerial dual with Roberts. Rose were then denied a strong claim for a penalty when the ball appeared to strike a hand in the Whitburn box following a good move between Herd and McArthur.
Former Rose man Scott Murphy made a belated appearance after 80 minutes but was unable to help Whitburn turn the tide although Strickland was unfortunate to see his 84th minute effort go wide. With 4 minutes to go, Andy Dick replaced Gordon Herd who had run himself to a standstill up front for the Rose.
Linlithgow have shown a tendency to leak crucial late goals this season and it seemed as though Lady Luck might desert them again as Whitburn threw everyone into the box for a 91st minute corner. Logan lost the ball in a ruck of players before it was knocked over the line but referee Allan had already blown for an infringement on the keeper.
Rose held out comfortably thereafter to record a much needed and deserved victory over a Whitburn team that looked dispirited as they trooped off the field at the end.
