Yahoo News Third final lucky for Dalbeattie Star as they lift Cree Lodge Cup
It was third time lucky for Dalbeattie Star at Palmerston on Wednesday night.
After two previous cup final defeats, they saw off Abbey Vale 2-1 to lift the Cree Lodge Cup final.
And that allowed them to put some of the disappointment of their promotion play-off defeat to Broxburn Athletic behind them as they head into the summer.
Gaffer Eddie Warwick said: “We’ve always had reactions throughout the season and it’s probably why we’ve been as strong and consistent as we have been.
“A few weeks ago we lost a cup final at Palmerston but had a perfect reaction three days later and won 3-1 in a semi-final against Creetown.
“I felt we would have got a reaction because it was our third final, we don’t want to keep losing finals, that’s not going to keep happening to us.
“The play-offs are an isolated game, so it was never an issue.”
The final pitched new Utility Hut South of Scotland League champions Star against the side which won the title last season.
Ross Hunter’s goal gave Star the half-time lead at Palmerston with Dan Carmichael extending the lead just after the break.
Lewis Downie scored for Vale in injury time but they were unable to produce a dramatic comeback to force extra-time.
Warwick added: “We’ve not had many happy nights at Palmerston this season with two cup finals but it was a totally different team and style of play and we thought we would be able to be more like ourselves because Vale are good on the attack.
“They’re a difficult team to play against so we’re delighted.
Scoring first was good and it was a professional performance – the goalkeeper has had to make saves but so has theirs, that’s what goalies do – they make big saves in big games.
“We could possibly have scored more goals and were lacking cutting edge – players were getting into positions as they’ve done all season but unfortunately the ball was in Terregles Street a couple of times, which is not like us.
“At 2-0 I felt as though we were comfortable and when we got the ball I felt we dictated the game.”
Vale manager Allan Clark said: “It’s disappointing as I was confident we could win the cup but the first half performance was nowhere near it.
“We didn’t get going, it was probably a matter of when they were going to score, not if.
“We were probably lucky to get in at 1-0 although we had a couple of chances ourselves.
“A few choice words were said at half-time and to give the boys their due, they started the far better team in the second half – then a wee bit of quality from Dan Carmichael kills the momentum.
“We kept plugging away, we got a goal back but it was too late. If we’d got it 10 minutes earlier we’d have fancied ourselves to go on and get another one.”
The match was Vale’s first game for more than a fortnight but Clark wasn’t using that as an excuse, pointing out: “We’ve been in training.
“If you look at the league table, we weren’t a million miles away – a few bad results here and there, if they’d gone differently we were up there.
“We’ll need to go away, regroup next year, look to maybe add some quality to the squad and go again next year.”
