An injury hit and depleted Newburgh side embarked on the trek down to the Scottish Borders village of West Linton for a historical first visit to face Linton Hotspur.
The two sides had met on the opening day of the season where Linton ran out 2-1 winners.
The sides entered the field and observed a minute’s silence for Remembrance weekend before Burgh kicked off the game.
It was the home side that took the lead in the 4th minute when a high ball into the box caused confusion between defender and keeper which allowed Watson to get a head to the ball to loop an effort past debutante Scott Kyles in the Burgh goal.
Watson again tested the Burgh goal with a powerful drive in the 19th minute which Kyles did well to hold into his chest, whilst Philip had a low effort saved to Kyles’ right hand side after a cut back from McLean.
Mitchell Sharp had a chance early in the second half as he raced into the left hand side of the Linton area, but his shot was deflected to safety.
In the 49th minute Linton nearly got themselves into difficulty playing out from the back when a pass back to keeper Panther was poorly cleared and fell to Mackenzie Williamson who was fouled as he got his shot away. From the resultant free kick from the edge of the area, his effort whizzed low past the left hand post and wide.
On 55 minutes a Burgh corner was knocked out of the area to Sharp who played it forward to Williamson who then laid back to Owen McNally on the edge of the area, but the Burgh man’s effort was powered down on the way through and went just wide.
Linton scored their second goal in the 58th minute in slightly fortuitous circumstances after appeals for a foul on a Burgh player. The ball fell Philip about 25 yards from goal and his low effort deceived Kyles through a crowd of bodies in front of him and into the net.
Kyles redeemed himself with a great save from sub Mackenzie in the 63rd minute, diving full stretch to his left to push the ball around the post.
Burgh were given a lifeline in the 70th minute when a long throw into the area by Man of the Match Callum Roughead caused hesitancy between defender and keeper and Burgh sub Lewis Stevenson nipped in to challenge before the keeper could claim it. As the ball came loose, Stevenson found himself brought down by Panther as he attempted to recover the ball. The referee immediately pointed to the spot. Williamson stepped up, but the kick wasn’t up to his usual standards and Panther dived low to save.
In the 85th minute a great through ball from McNally found Stevenson through on goal. But with space and time running out, he was closed down enough to not be able to get a clinical shot away and Panther saved.
It was a battling performance from the Burgh, especially considering the extent of absentees and reshuffling of positions. Debutants Kyle and Ronnie Martin showed that they have plenty to offer, and Roughead picked up Man of the Match with a battling performance in the heart of the Burgh defence with some crucial tackles and headers.
With a week off next weekend, it gives a little extra time for the Burgh walking wounded to recover from injuries in time for another trek with the visit to Hawick Royal Albert on the 23rd November.
