Premier League, Saturday 30th April 2005

Whitehill Welfare 2 Dalbeattie Star 1

With Welfare guaranteed to finish fourth in the league, their match with Dalbeattie would prove no more than a  training exercise. Dalbeattie however had an aim to try and defeat Welfare for the first time ever.

The home side were hampered by the omission of Ryan McGurk in goal due to injury and he was replaced by youngster Liam McGowan. Andy Hogg dropped onto the bench as a precaution ahead of the forthcoming Final and Murray Hunter joined him there on his return from injury.

It was the home side who took the lead after 30 minutes when Jamie Birrell spotted a run off the ball from Kenny Young and duly played a perfectly weighted pass into the wee man who ran in on goal and blasted an unstoppable shot past the keeper.

Young almost made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time with a deceptive run at the Dalbeattie defence but he was forced to shot just wide as the visitors defence awoke to the danger just in time and closed him down.

Early in the second half, welfare won a free kick when Wilson picked up a pass from a defender. The resulting free-kick was blasted into the wall by Young and the rebound was scooped over the top by McDonald.

Dalbeattie levelled the match in the 54th minute. A testing cross from full-back Wilson was fumbled by McGowan and it fell at the feet of Milligan who tucked the ball into the far corner of the net.

Welfare kept pushing for the winner and finally made the breakthrough with ten minutes left to play. A high ball from Richie Johnstone was well-controlled by Baigrie inside the box. Ryan Curran then peeled away from his marker to create some space and Baigrie spotted the move and rolled a pass in his direction. The wee striker moved in and made no mistake with a crisp shot into the keeper's bottom right corner to clinch the match.

Whitehill: McGowan, Baigrie, Lee, Johnston, Jamieson, Johnstone, Young, Shanks, McDonald, Whyte, Birrell. Subs: Martin, Curran, Faichney, Hogg, Hunter.