DALBEATTIE Star officials have been hit by a bombshell only a month from the start of their new season.

Gordon Holt has resigned from the post after taking the East of Scotland side to their best ever season.

Holt, who was in the post for only a season, has resigned for personal reasons.

Last season was the best  ever for the club after finishing runnersup in the East of Scotland Premier League to Spartans, their highest position ever.

And they won the East of Scotland League Cup as well as the Southern Counties Challenge Cup, the top trophy in the South.

Star chairman Clark Lamont said: "Obviously this is a big shock for us at this stage of the season.

"We have just been told  by Gordon that he is not continuing for personal reasons and we have had to accept his resignation."

He added: "It is unfortunate after we had our best season ever in the East of Scotland. The committee will be meeting over the weekend to plan ahead.

"We will also be trying to find a successor for Gordon but it is always difficult at this time of the season with the start of the leagues getting very close."

Star also have a team in the South of Scotland and Paul Menlove of Terregles has been appointed the new manager of the South squad.

He will be assisted by Joe Chambers, also from Terregles, and Keith Dingwall of Dalbeattie.

THE draw for the opening round of the Southern Counties Challenge Cup, the South's premier trophy, has thrown up a local 'derby' with two of the top sides clashing.

Dalbeattie Star, holders of the trophy, have been drawn at home to Threave Rovers who won the South of Scotland League last season.

Stranraer face a trip to Lockerbie to play Mid Annandale while Wigtown travel to play Abbey Vale and Newton Stewart are away to Annan Athletic.

The first round draw is:

St Cuthbert Wanderers v Fleet Star; Mid Anndale v Stranraer; Dalbeattie Star v Threave Rovers; Crichton v Queen of the South; Heston Rovers v Creetown; Abbey Vale v Wigtown; Annan Athletic v Newton Stewart. Nithsdale Wanderers received a bye.

LEAGUE CUP DRAW

The South League Cup draw saw holders St Cuthbert Wanderers drawn away to Fleet Star.

The draw is: 1st round - Newton Stewart v Abbey Vale; Nithsdale Wanderers v Threave Rovers; Dalbeattie Star v Crichton; Fleet Star v St Cuthbert Wanderers; Heston Rovers v Mid Annandale. 2nd round - Stranraer v Creetown; Wigtown v Newton Stewart or Abbey Vale.

The draws were made at the annual general meeting of the Southern Counties FA at Dalbeattie where Andy McClymont of Newton Stewart was re-appointed president with Colin Holden, Threave Rovers, the vice president and Kenny Murray Dalbeattie Star, the treasurer.

Dick Shaw was again appointed secretary and members paid tribute to his 26 years in the post. He has also been a member of the South for 50 years as a player, club official and secretary of the Association.

THE long-running saga over Creetown's Castle Carie Park has taken a new turn.

The club has asked the Southern Counties Football Association if they can play their games at Ballgreen Park, Kirkcowan next season.

The South of Scotland side has been told that there are further delays in upgrading proposals for the ground which mean that new dressing rooms being shipped from America will not be arriving until the start of the new season.

Club spokesman Eric Houston says that it will be the end of the year before the new accommodation is completed and they want to carry out further work on the ground.

The Association has agreed that an inspection of Ballgreen Park will take place by the of June and if it doesn't come up to standard, then they will play all their games next season away from home.

550 PLAYERS USED IN SOUTH 

A TOTAL of 550 players were used by clubs in the South of Scotland in cup and league games last season.Dick Shaw, secretary of the Southern Counties FA, paid tribute to the member clubs for their work throughout the yars.

Mr Shaw told the annual general meeting that not all clubs could be winners and he wanted to congratulate the volunteers in the Southern Counties who gave up their time to ensure that clubs were kept alive to provide football in the region for those players.

He said that scheduling fixtures had been challenging given the number of postponements.

A total of 97 matches were postponed during the season and he said: "I thank clubs for their co-operation in achieving a completion of the fixtures within the agreed timescale.

CRICHTON COME OUT ON TOP 

CRICHTON have been awarded the Detroit Trophy for the overall championship in the Southern Counties FA for the 2008-09 season.

They amassed a total of 85 poiots although they did not win any trophy during a touch season.

They were presented with the overall trophy at the annual general meeting of the Southern Counties

The runnersup were Threave Rovers who won the South of Scotland League and also collected the Cree Lodge Cup. They had 79 points and finished in front of double trophy winners St Cuthbert Wanderers.

Saints won the League Cup and the Tweedie Cup and finished on 73 points with Wigtown having one of their most successful season.

Wigtown won the Potts Cup and finished third in the League, their highest position since the 1994-95 season when they finished runnersup.

DALBEATTIE STAR 0 SPARTANS 3

HT 0-2

SPARTANS co-manager Micky Lawson had a triple celebration as his season ended on a high.

For his side lifted the East Premier League title for the first time in four seasons.

And Lawson was 60 on Saturday and was also celebrating his retirment from Scottish Widows.

Lawson got got the ideal 60th birthday present when his side routed challengers Dalbeattie Star to lift the championship.

It was title number eight for Lawson - four with Whitehill Welfare and four with Spartans.

But he said this was the sweetest one of all.

Spartans went into the match four goals ahead of Star and coasted to victory with two first half goals and then a third in second spell.

Lawson who was rushing home for a family celebration said: "This was all I wanted, to win the league championship this season.

"I'm 60 today and I've just retired. And in addition my sister is also 57 today  so it's celebration time all round.

Lawson had to leave his players and officials celebrating as he rushed back home to the Capital for a night out with the family.

He said: "This victory was a real team effort.

"I've won the championship before with Whitehill and with Spartans but I've enjoyed this one the most. It's been four years and I've told the lads we set the benchmarks for the East of Scotland and everyone tries their pan in against us.

"But today I think we controlled it and Dalbeattie will be a bit disappointed. They were playing some good passing but weren't getting in behind us. We used the wider areas better."

He added: "It's great for Omar Kadir, Alex King and Dan Gerrard for they have been here for a few years and have never won the championship. I would dedicate this win to them.

"I've half a dozen here who have won it before but it's great for everyone.

"It's been a nervous couple of days but we're all delighted and we can all relax now."

Lawson went on: "I think Dan Gerrard was brilliant today and he has never won the championship before. Ross Archibald was player of the year but he was missing today.

Lawson praised Dalbeattie and said: "They have brought something to the East League and I think they are a better team for playing here."

It took Spartans 26 minutes to establish their superiority and it was David Etale who broke through with a great run on the right. He sent over a cross and Omar Kadir was on hand to volley home from 12 yards.

They struck a real 'killer' blow in the 36th minute when Omar Kadir's corner was blasted into the net from the edge of the box to make it 2-0 and there was no way back for Star.

Star sub Hugh Cameron fired in a low shot in 47 minutes but Spartans keeper Chris Flockhart got to the ball and four minutes later Etale could have scored but it was weak header and the ball was cleared.

The third goal came in the 80th minute when sub Daryl Devlin was sent through by Alex King and he fired low into the far corner of the net beyond the reach of Star keeper Graham Wright.

Star had a couple of late chances but Andrew HOuston's shot was deflected for a corner and Scott Milligan and Gary Prentice had shots blocked.

A disappointed Star manager Gordon Holt admitted they were outplayed by strong Spartans side.

"We didn't have any width in the team and I thought we would have got away with a narrow four across the middle. To be fair we started well but Spartans were disciplined. They shut us down in all the areas and never really gave us a look-in during the whole 90 minutes.

DALBEATTIE Star boss Gordon Holt is taking Saturday's crunch East of Scotland Premier League match in his stride.

He is not making any special preparations for the title decider at Islecroft Stadium against crack East side Spartans.

Up to 100 Spartans fans are expected to converge on Dalbeattie looking for their side to clinch their first championship for four seasons.

Gordon Holt said: "People are going are going to start talking about how many goals we need but I won't mention that and we won't have that in our minds.

"My objective for the players on Saturday is to beat Spartans. What we beat them by, if we beat them, will obviously matter but after that whatever we get is what we get."

Star face one of their most exciting ends to the season with the league decider on Saturday followed by the East League Cup final against Preston Athletic the following Sunday (May 30) at Selkirk.

They reached the final with a 2-1 win over Vale of Leithen in the semi-final at Islecroft Stadium on Saturday. Preston earned their place with a 3-1 win over newcomers Stirling Uni.

Holt, whose side have already won the South's top trophy, the Southern Counties Challenge Cup, said it was very pleasing to get to another cup final. "The boys deserved it and I'll have two or three boys back for the final and I'll take the whole squad with me because they all deserve to be part of the final."

Holt was also delighted with the performance of Creetown midfielder Andrew Houston who played against Vale. "He's very kindly agreed to help us along and he's a cracking player. If there's any possibility at all that the boy wants a move at the end of the season I would like to have him along. He's got potential and he was as good as anything I had on the park today."

Spartans co-manager Mike Lawson will be out to land the league championship on Saturday but he has been generous in his praise of his opponents.

Speaking on his club's website Lawson turned his thoughts on Dalbeattie this season. He said: "I’d like to take the time to offer both congratulations and thanks to Dalbeattie Star before my thoughts turn to Spartans and the title decider on Saturday.

"I was at Dalbeattie’s first game of the season when they were defeated by Heriot-Watt on the back of Skin (Andy McGinley) handing in his resignation. Few then would have envisaged what Gordon Holt and his boys would achieve in the months that followed.

"Dalbeattie soon fought their way to the top of the league and they stayed there for most of the season. I’m sure Kenny Murray and Gordon like us all at Spartans would have settled for still having a chance of winning the title on the last league Saturday of the season and so it has turned out."

He went on: "Dalbeattie have also won the biggest 'South' trophy when the beat Annan in the South Challenge Cup Final and are in the final of our own League Cup next weekend. I’d like to congratulate them on a magnificent season so far.

!I’d also like to thank them for playing in our league. We were all disappointed when Threave Rovers decided to return to play solely in the South a few years back and of course we lost Annan to the SFL at the start of this season. Our league is all the better for it’s contribution from the "South" and I thank Kenny and his committee for staying with us. Dalbeattie are a good club ran by good people and I’m sure they’ve grown stronger as a club with a foot in both camps.

"Maybe with Gretna joining us this season thoughts will turn to combining the two associations?."

Saturday May 16:

EAST LEAGUE CUP SEMI-FINAL
Dalbeattie Star 2 Vale of Leithen 1
Stirling Uni 1 Preston Ath 3

EAST PREMIER League
Heriot-Watt Uni 3 Selkirk 0
Spartans 3 Edinburgh City 1

EAST Division 1
Eyemouth Utd 0 Civil Service Strollers 2
Kelso Utd 1 Ormiston 3
Tynecastle 4 Gretna 2008 0

STAR v PRESTON CUP FINAL

Dalbeattie Star 2 Vale of Leithen 1

DALBEATTIE ensured a hectic end to their season with a Premier league decider next week and a cup final in two weeks.

It's Star's best ever East of Scotland season and they will take on Preston Athletic in the final of the East League Cup.

In their semi on Saturday at Islecroft Stadium, Star came back from losing an early goal to beat Division 1 side Vale but made it difficult for themselves by missing five good second half chances.

Steven Notman had a 30 yard effort just wide of the woodwork in the 11th minute and he repeated the move three minutes later.

Their pressure paid off when Mark Brown shot Vale into the lead in 35 minutes from six yards after some good work on the right. But two minutes later Scott Milligan met a Hugh Cameron cross and shot home from six yards to level the scores.

A minute before the interval Vale failed to clear a Stewart Hogg corner and Jack Steele scored from five yards for what proved the winner.

Two minutes into the second half Andy Martin struck the upright with a 12 yard shot with the Star keeper beaten. On the hour mark Star should have gone ahead when Milligan's header was just wide.

Hogg, Milligan and Redpath all had great chances to put the result beyond doubt in the last 13 minutes but all were just inches off target.

Dalbeattie Star - Wright, Houston, Laurie, McMinn, D Kerr, Hogg, Steele, Cameron, Redpath, Milligan, Robinson. Subs - Clark, R Kerr, Hannay.

Vale of Leithen - Wilson, Tainsh, Shortreid, Lee, Osbourne, Brown, Martin, Rossi, Graham, Notman, Somerville. Subs - McManus, Fleming, Forsyth.

ETALE DOUBLE BOOSTS SPARTANS

DAVID Etale may have powered Spartans to their first East Premier League title in four seasons.
The Kenyan striker came on and scored two goals in the last 10 minutes.
Spartans beat arch rivals Edinburgh City 3-1 to go three points ahead of Dalbeattie Star with the sides meeting next weekend in the final game of the season.
It was also Spartans last East match at City Park and more than 350 fans saw them go out in style.
It means that Star have to win by four clear goals if they are to win their first ever title.
Spartans co-manager Micky Lawson praised his super sub: "He's done it so often in the last few games and his volley to put us ahead near the end was tremendous.
"We've now got one game left but it's not over yet.
Lawson added: "We lost four goals to Star in 15 minutes in our first meeting this season at City Park.
"But whatever happens both teams have had a great season and who would have thought it would have gone down to the last game."
Lawson said his side would be going down to Dalbeattie to win the match and not just to defend.
"We owe them one for taking five goals of us," he said.
Omar Kadir put Spartans ahead in 10 minutes but a great 30 yard volley from Jordan Hall levelled things eight minutes after the turn.
Then Etale blasted home a 25 yarder in 80 minutes and got his second in stoppage time.
In East Division 1Tynecastle dampened Gretna 2008's promotion prospects as they sealed the championship with a 4-0 win over the Raydale Park side. Civil Service Strollers beat Eyemouth United 2-0 to keep their promotion hopes alive and Stirling Uni are also still in the hunt.

In the other Division 1 match Ormiston beat Kelso 3-1.