The Burgh travelled to relegation-threatened Lochgelly knowing that nothing short of maximum points was a must against opposition that were also fighting to keep their slimmest of hopes of survival alive.
Kellar Harris had the Burgh’s first chance with a flicked header wide of goal in the 3rd minute, whilst Stark had a chance for the hosts shortly after with a turn and shot that went over the bar.
It was a tense start to the game but after getting a grip on the game, Burgh started to look stronger and in the 15th minute Ronan Hall had a shot just over the crossbar after a good cross from the right by Cai Macdonald, whilst moments later Harris couldn’t get enough on a flicked effort to trouble the keeper whilst under pressure from a defender.
The opening goal came in the 33rd minute when Captain Dependable, Andrew Cameron ghosted into the edge of the six-yard box unmarked to sweep home Johnny Malcolm’s cross from the right.
It was a goal that bred life into the Burgh performance and by half time the visitors really should have gone in with a comfortable lead with good chances going begging. Hamid Eddouss could not make a clean enough connection for a shot from the edge of the area in the 38th minute, then four minutes later he was played through by Macdonald. His shot beat the Lochgelly keeper but also went across the face of goal and was cleared.
On the stroke of half time Harris missed a great chance when he skied his effort over the bar after Eddouss had reached a poor pass from the keeper to run in on goal and cut back for the Burgh no.11 to shoot over.
Harris made amends early in the second half when a fortuitous set of ricochets from two Lochgelly defenders sent the ball back towards goal and Harris latched on to run in on goal and coolly slot home past the keeper for 2-0.
Cameron came to Burgh’s rescues after Stark beat Chalmers to the ball at close range to fire a shot goalbound but the Newburgh skipper was on hand to clear off the line in the 67th minute.
Connall White then did well to rob a Lochgelly defender and set up an attack, but Burgh seemed to want to take too much time with Harris eventually laying off the shot for Hall who fired over.
Credit to Lochgelly who kept trying and Johnstone played a smart one-two with Celentano on 78 minutes on the edge of the area, but David Chalmers was quickly out to dive at the feet of the striker.
Sub Lewis Stevenson put the game to bed in the 84th minute when he rose to superbly head home White’s pinpoint cross into the corner of the net. ‘Stevo’ tried to better that goal in stoppage time with a volley from a corner that was hacked away by Lochgelly’s Meldrum just in front of the goal line.
It was a much-needed victory for Newburgh and a pleasing clean sheet against opposition who could have put a different outcome to the game. Whilst it is a massive step closer to safety, mathematically the job isn’t completed yet and standards must not be allowed to drop in our League fixture away at Hawick next Saturday.
Of course, before then we have the small matter of a League Cup match at Premier Division Champions Linlithgow Rose on Tuesday to think about!!! A pretty big week for the team, but one they are more than capable of making a positive impact on if they can put their mind to it.
