Selkirk 0

Kelty Hearts 4

Kenny Paterson at Yarrow Park

SELKIRK boss Ian Fergus admitted his side were bullied out of the South Challenge Cup by Kelty Hearts.

The reigning East Junior Super League champions proved too strong for the young Souters, with former Stenhousemuir striker Errol Douglas bagging a hat-trick in an impressive performance by the Fifers.

And Fergus believes Kelty could go on to win the South Challenge Cup.

He said: “Kelty are the best team we have faced in my 10 months in charge of Selkirk and I would not be surprised if they won the cup.

“We were missing Sean Muhsin, Murray Christie and Dan Greig so we had a very young team today with an average age of 22, and I think some of them were overawed and bullied by Kelty.

“They were physically strong and streetwise but are also very good footballers, and thoroughly deserved to win.

“I never saw us conceding four goals to any side but we need to now concentrate on a massive game against Gretna in the Scottish Cup.”

This was an intriguing cup tie, with in-form Selkirk coming up against ex-juniors Kelty, who have handed out a few thrashings already this season having moved into the East of Scotland League with the aim of gaining promotion to the Lowland League.

Selkirk started well with Andrew Fleming heading over when he really should have hit the target.

But Fergus’ men were soon on the back foot and were lucky not to concede a penalty when Fleming appeared to pull down Scott Dalziel in the penalty box, only for referee Craig Ferguson to wave away the appeals.

But Kelty’s boisterous away support were soon celebrating as Douglas’ brilliant turn and shot found the net via the underside of the crossbar on 10 minutes.

Hearts’ robust style was evident throughout the half, particularly when Conrad Courts’ hard but fair challenge on Dale Baxter forced the midfielder off the pitch, to be replaced by Ciaren Chalmers.

Kelty continued to press but it wasn’t until the final stages of the first half when they would confirm their superiority with two goals in three minutes, aided by poor Selkirk defending.

Firstly, ex-Dunfermline midfielder Stephen Husband curled in a free kick which found the unmarked Dalziel to head home.

And then two minutes into injury time, Ross Philp was given plenty of time to find Douglas to tap in the third.

An early second half goal was needed if Selkirk were to form an unlikely comeback, and David Banjo’s rasping effort looked to have got the homesters back into the tie until Scott Christie produced a fantastic fingertip save.

Instead, the game was killed off when another Selkirk defensive error allowed Douglas to slam in his hat-trick, a month after he scored six against Eyemouth.

And were it not for two fine saves by Gregor Amos it could have been worse for Selkirk, as Kelty strolled into the second round.

Selkirk: G. Amos, R Sclater, R. Donaldson, A. Fleming, R. Miller (J. Hopkinson 70), D. Healy, L. Turkington, P. Addison, D. Banjo, D. Baxter (C. Chalmers 34) & S. McKirdy.