Morton Youth edge eleven goal thriller

A frosty Sunday morning put paid to a few matches in Dumfries at the weekend, but conditions were more favourable out of town and several matches survived the cold snap. Hospital Park was the venue for an eleven goal thriller, with Morton Youth continuing their impressive start to 2017 by edging out Normandy Star. John Howie scored four for the home side and Corey Thomson also netted but Ben Dempster also scored four for Morton, with Islam Kadyrov and Jordan Barker on target to send Youth third. League Leaders Moffat Thistle hosted Hole in the Wa in what was sure to be a tight affair. Moffat drew first blood with Justin Borthwick netting in the 18th minute but Wa levelled through a Joe Jardine penalty just after the half hour. The Wa went ahead 15 minutes from time as Jordan Jones rounded the keeper to score, but there was time for Moffat to rescue a point as Damon Campbell thundered a 30 yard free kick into the top corner five minutes from time. Annan Town made the long trek to Kelloholm and went behind to an Ian Bell strike, Shaun Bell levelled for Annan before a second half Danny Lockerby penalty put the visitors ahead and Shaun Bell grabbed his second to give Annan a cushion. Colin Bell then netted for Kelloholm to set a ding dong finish but the visitors did enough to secure the win. Dumfries Athletic agreed to reverse their fixture with FC Annan to get the game played and the first half was notable for the dismissal of an Annan player, but despite the numerical disadvantage they took the lead early in the second period through top scorer John Campbell. Dumfries pushed hard with the extra man and their own top scorer Liam Watson turned the game around with two goals to secure three crucial points in the race for second spot. Final match of the day was down at Clarencefield where Ruthwell Rovers hosted Park Thistle. Ruthwell took an early lead as a driven free kick was lashed into the net by an unfortunate Park defender, but the Dumfries side levelled on 32 minutes with Owen Abraham smashing home from 6 yards. As half time loomed Ruthwell fired a long free kick into the box and Ryan Johnstone lost his marker to loop a header over the keeper and into the net. Park again rallied and equalised early in the second half as Dougie Rae was pushed in the box and got up to convert the penalty. Ruthwell were not to be denied though and a short corner was met by Ross Dunlop whose header evaded the keeper and the man on the post to give the home side three much needed points.