THE horrible weather of Thursday and Friday left only one fixture on in local the East of Scotland football programme, at the weekend.

It was Hutchison Vale against Dundonald Bluebell, in the Premier Division, and it was a game dominated by a very strong wind.

Hutchie Vale 4, Dundonald Bluebell 2.

HUTCHIE booked the gale in the first half and the ‘Bell struggled to contain the eager home forwards, at Ainslie Park.

They were 3-0 up at half time, and although Dundonald came back at them after the break, the big advantage was too much for them to extinguish.

Hutchie came out the traps fast and took the lead in four minutes, and then in eight minutes doubled their lead.

Bluebell, who were short of a few regulars through injury, kept battling hard and had a few half chances, but a minute from the break a foul in the Dundonald box saw Hutchie Vale lead 3-0 at half time through converting the resultant penalty.

Dundonald went looking for goals with the elements behind them in the second period, but Hutchie defended strongly and it was in the 67th minute that Calum Strang got the visitors on the scoresheet, but a second didn’t come, and with five minutes left Vale grabbed a fourth.

Two minutes later Aiden Hendry scored from the spot, after Calum Smith was pulled down in the Hutchie box, to make the final score 4-2.

The result leaves Bluebell in eighth spot in the Premier table, on 34 points from 21 games, and manager Stephen Husband felt that his side didn’t really recover from a bad start to the match: “We faced the strong wind in the first half and losing two goals in the first eight minutes made things difficult for us.

“We tried to get back into the game early in the second half, but just couldn’t convert enough of the openings that came along.

“We were short of six lads through injury, who would have started for us normally, but we should have enough depth of cover for that sort of situation.

“We have six games coming up in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully some of these injured lads will be back in the running to play.”

Wednesday’s fixture: East of Scotland First Division – Lochore Welfare v Kirkcaldy and Dysart 6.30pm.

Saturday: East of Scotland Premier Division – Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts v Crossgates Primrose 2pm, Broxburn Athletic v Hill of Beath Hawthorn 2.30pm, Dundonald Bluebell v Jeanfield Swifts 2.30pm. East of Scotland First Division – Whitburn v Lochore Welfare 2.30pm, Lochgelly Albert v Edinburgh Community 2.30pm.