Newburgh faced the arduous trek down to the Borders to visit promotion chasers Hawick Royal Albert at Albert Park.
Whilst the final score may paint a picture of “same old”, as someone else said to me this weekend from a still photograph I showed them, a picture can give a different story to reality. The “horror” image displayed in the cold light of day, in this case, was indeed very different to how the 90 minutes actually panned out.
It all started very brightly for Burgh as skipper Mackenzie Williamson tore his left back opponent apart in the first half and in the 3rd minute he raced past his man to send over a sublime cross on a plate over keeper’s arms to Lyall Brown who beat his marker to knock home from close range.
It was a promising start for the visitors but potentially fell apart in just the 6th minute when Rhys Sneddon went into a 50-50 with full force and was shown a straight red by the official after much protestation from the home side.
You could make an argument for both a red or a yellow card, but my gut feeling at the time was the decision was correct and that ‘still image’ certainly backed that thought up. But speaking to many people who were closer, they were less convinced.
While it could be argued that the dismissal threatened to spoil the game, Burgh, to their credit, were doing their best not to let it happen as they continued on the front foot. Inside the opening 20 minutes the Fifers had two strong penalty shouts turned down; first when Tam Hampson turned in the box and appeared to have been brought down by a defender in the 9th minute, whilst on 16th minute Calum Geddes shot appeared to have been handled away for a corner. Certainly, I felt the second offence appeared more convincing, but the man in the middle was less so.
At the other end, Burgh were doing their best to keep Hawick at bay and keeper Scott Kyles did well to recover to push a deflected shot behind for a corner and followed up with a spectacular save from a header pushing the effort from a free kick over the bar.
It was a pleasing opening half for Burgh with little evidence of a numerical disadvantage and looking the better side with Williamson, in particular, shining.
As the second half started, that quickly changed as Hawick sub Uwandu hit a beautiful volley past Kyles after a cross from the right to make it 1-1.
On 51 minutes a tame shot from Dyke was held by Kyles. The Burgh keeper punted a ball forward deep into the Hawick half which was chested back by Hampson into the path of Williamson who met the shot crisply on the volley from around 30 yards out to send his shot flying past keeper Pettigrew to regain Newburgh’s lead.
Williamson was looking to better that effort with a long range free kick on 62 minutes after CJ Thomson had been fouled. The Burgh skipper’s rasping free kick stung the palms of the keeper as he managed to parry away. The ball came back towards goal and Brown had a good effort held by Pettigrew.
So far, so good… Or so the Burgh support thought, until a crazy five minute spell as tiring legs and minds were made to pay with a spell of Hawick pressure that swung the course of the game in the other direction.
On 66th minutes Harry Fowler netted the first of two goals in as many minutes as he swept home Ben Tracey’s cut back from 10 yards out to equalise. Then he picked up a stray ball to drive on and fire a smart low shot past Kyles to put the hosts ahead for the first time.
On 69 minutes Hawick made it 4-2 when Ben Tracey capitalised on a defensive slip from namesake Kyle to slide home an effort into the far corner.
By now Burgh were now tiring after being a man down since the 6th minute and the match was seemingly now out of reach. But Hawick were unable to extend their advantage until six minutes from time when Uwandu’s effort lofted over the advancing Kyles and just came down under the bar.
It certainly felt like a scoreline that was harsh on a largely impressive Burgh who more than matched their higher-placed opponents for long spells. But a crazy five minute spell from the hosts against a fatiguing side put a spoke in the wheel.
It was a hard-working performance from the visitors and it would have been interesting to see how the match would have panned out had the referee chose yellow instead of red so early on in a game that was shaping up to be both entertaining and intriguing.
Man of the Match: Mackenzie Williamson - coupled an impressive, hard working performance with a spectacular second half goal.
