Dalbeattie Star's promotion play-off hopes blown away by Broxburn Athletic

Dalbeattie Star boss Eddie Warwick reckons the Lowland League promotion play-off could have been a different story had he been able to field his strongest side.

After losing the first leg 4-1 to East champs Broxburn Athletic, Star went down 8-1 in West Lothian on Friday night after goalie Konar Pietsch was sent off and Russell Williamson went off with concussion after they’d used all their subs.

Warwick said: “I would have liked to have had my full team against them as I don’t think we’d have lost 4-1 at Dalbeattie.

“A fair score would have been 2-1 or 2-2. Even people who were at the game said it was a bit far fetched.

“Going up there is different, you’re going up against a big, strong team and it looked like they had more than 1,000 people there.

“I’m delighted we got there as it meant we were league champions. We earned the right to be there.

“It was tough, if I remember it was tough for St Cuthberts a few years ago when they were the last South team to play in that game.

“We were down to nine men at Broxburn, which isn’t a scenario you want. It’s not something I’m going to cry about as I’m delighted the boys have had that experience. If you’re going to sink or swim, it’s about character in this game.”

It was all going so well for Star when Declan Rogerson scored after just five minutes to make the aggregate score 4-2.

However, Gary Brass soon equalised for Broxburn and they quickly ended any doubts about who was going up when Errol Douglas made it 2-1 on the night.

Alassan Jones then made it 3-1 with Gary Brass getting a fourth before Star goalie Konar Pietsch saw red and Jones scored the resultant free-kick.

That made it 9-2 on aggregate at the break, Brass, Marky Munro and Callum Bremner