After less than thirty seconds on the pitch, Balázs Polyák fires Brook Street into a 3-0 lead.

Three unanswered first half Brook Street goals had the match against Badger Loyal Rangers all but won this afternoon before a Kari Kienberger added a fourth right at the end of the game.

Gers’ new £1.5M signing Johnny Rollinson made his debut and it was clear that they would be focussing their attacks on the wings. However, Brook Street were far too disciplined to be pulled out of position and it quickly became clear that there would be no repeat of Gers’ shock win of last weekend.

With six minutes played the ball broke to Raúl Colen at the edge of the Gers box. The Brook Street wing-back was quickly surrounded in an attempt to close down the move, but with quick feet he evaded all the challenges and broke through before firing the ball across the keeper and into the far corner of the net.

Brook Street were turning the screw and gaining control of the match, and this became even more evident in the twenty-first minute when Kalle Konkka picked up the ball in midfield and steamrollered his way through the Gers defence before thundering the ball high into the net.

The visitors kept trying to break through without any joy and in one such tussle in midfield in the thirty-fifth minute, Paul Hughes fell awkwardly and injured his collarbone. The game was over for him and he was replaced by Balázs Polyák.

Straight from the restart, the ball was fed through to the young Hungarian who proceeded to dribble the ball through the Gers defence before slamming it past keeper Vicente Olivos to sensationally put Brook Street three-up less than thirty seconds after he had come on.

Gers came out for the second half looking to put pressure on the home side and while Brook Street were happy to surrender possession, they ruthlessly snuffed out any attemps to break forward.

With time running out Gers became more and more desperate to claw themselves back into the game, and while they managed to create a couple of chances, poor finishing saw them slide away.

Brook Street had soaked up a lot of pressure and Gers were getting closer to scoring so Fermín Romero ordered his players to push up the pitch as full-time approached.

With just over a minute of regular time to go, the home players camped around the visitors’ eighteen-yard box looking for an opening until eventually Kari Kienberger lost his marker. He received the ball thanks to a superb pass by Janko Fila and took a touch before sweeping the ball into the net to complete the scoring.

“That was an important three points and four goals”, said Fermín Romero afterwards. “After last weekend it was essential that we got three points today. We couldn’t afford any more slip-ups and it’s a relief to get this fixture out of the way”.

He continued, “We can go to Eilean Donan next Saturday looking for goals and set us up for the final match against Paisley Pirates at the LJG the following week”.

Asked about the injury sustained by Paul Hughes he replied, “He’s injured his collarbone and might miss next weekend. We’ll just have to see how it responds. You can’t rush these things in case you do more damage, but I’d be surprised if he wasn’t available for the Paisley game”.

Elsewhere, Livilions gave themselves an outside chance of avoiding automatic relegation with a 3-2 home win over Eilean Donan while failure to convert chances did for Winbat wonderers who lost out 1-2 at home to St Andrew Paisley. Finally, it was a case of ‘What if?’ at Ochilview as with ten minutes to go Bonnybrig Eagles were 2-1 in front against Paisley Pirates. Had it stayed the same, Brook Street would have headed to the Highlands next weekend knowing that a point would be enough to secure the title. Alas it was not to be as two goals for Pirates in the remaining time saw that dream evaporate. To the final week it goes…