Burgh travelled to the East Lothian village of Ormiston in the hopes of picking up much-needed points.
The game started positively for Burgh, as indeed was the opening 45 minutes, as debutant Lyall Brown nearly got his name on the scoresheet inside 10 seconds of kick off with his effort pushed around the post for a corner.
Burgh kept the early pressure on from the resultant corner as the ball made its way across the area and Owen McNally’s turn and shot couldn’t quite find the target.
In the 9th minute the home side could consider themselves unlucky when they had a goal chalked off for offside before the pressure of their goal resumed.
In the 11th minute Trialist flicked a header onto the Ormiston crossbar, whilst moments later Ronnie Martin couldn’t cleanly connect with an effort on goal. Ewan Coutts then fired a shot into the body of Ormiston keeper Cawley in the 20th minute.
The Ormiston woodwork was rattled again in the 25th minute when a rasping low shot across goal from Brown on the corner of the area thudded off the base of the post and Coutts again tested Cawley who was at full stretch to tip away for a corner in the 28th minute.
Burgh had the first ofthree penalty shouts in the 38th minute when Owen McCallion was quite robustly challenged but the referee was not convinced and awarded a free kick for a foul on Mackenzie Williamson which proceeded the ball coming out of the penalty area.
In the 42nd minute Joe Russell had to be alert for his first action of the game when he dived low to save a shot at his near post.
The only goal of the game came in the 49th minute with a quickly taken free-kick literally as the referee blew his whistle caught the Burgh defence not quite prepared and Martin finished to give Ormiston a surprise lead.
Other Burgh debutant Tam Hampson headed a chance from a McNally cross over in the 58th minute before Brown was controversially adjudged to have fouled Cawley from a corner. Replays show it was actually his own defender that injured the prone keeper
In the 68th minute Burgh had a double penalty appeal when Williamson was seemingly fouled. As play continued the ball fell to Hampson whose turn and shot struck the hand of Ormiston’s Dougan but again the official was unperturbed.
The home side were doing their best to kill time as the clock ticked on and Burgh had another penalty shout as Stevenson played the ball into the area for McNally to challenge with Martin who appeared to handle the ball before the ball went out for a corner.
Burgh were unable to find a way through in the closing stages and after around 7 or 8 minutes of stoppage time, the whistle sounded.
Whilst the result was bitterly disappointing, the only criticism you could level is just the side not taking their chances. Other than that, Burgh played some good stuff. Particularly in the first half, Burgh should have put the game out of sight.
But new boy Brown looked lively, as did Hampson. McCallion put in another Man of the Match display and the Burgh defence in the main looked organised and fairly comfortable other than being caught out with a quickly taken free kick.
As said it’s very much a work in progress, but there are continually promising signs that things are heading in the right direction and it is – hopefully – a matter of time before they completely click into place.
