Burgh were back in action at the place called “home” for match 4 of 5 consecutive home matches with a hastily-arranged fixture switch with Stirling Uni.
There were a couple of absentees in the Burgh line up, most notably skipper Andrew Cameron who missed his first game in a game in over a year and Michael Perrie which forced a reshuffle with a 3-5-2 formation with Harris Mitchell dropping into the defence with Callum Anderson, Ronan Hall and Mitchell Sharp making the central midfield three.
There was another notable change and that was an early Burgh goal! Inside under 2 minutes a charging run into the right side of the Stirling area by Connall White presented one of those dangerous balls across the face of goal. Inevitably it was going to go in by either defender or striker, and it was the defender who beat Kellar Harris to clinically dispatch into his own net from two yards out to give the hosts the lead, wearing their new red and white shirts by new shirt sponsors Branston.
But it was a game of chances and mistakes by both sides and one that could have gone either way.
Struan Grieve headed a corner wide in the 5th minute, whilst at the other end Harty thundered a free kick against the bar. It wasn’t the first time the woodwork would come to Burgh’s rescue.
In the 17th minute Kellar Harris turned his man on the left and sent over a pin point ball into the far post where a defender was able to nick the ball away for a corner, inches from the sliding in White. From the corner Harris headed just wide at the far post.
The visitors had a couple of chances before being presented with a gift of an equaliser that started by a Newburgh throw in level with the visitor’s penalty area. The ball was played back and back, eventually being passed back to Joe Russell in goal. His clearance was closed down by the forward and he ran on to round the keeper and tap into an empty net in the 32nd minute.
Lewis Stevenson and Dan Kenny both had efforts early in the second half, the latter having a strike deflected for a corner, whilst a long-range strike from the visitors again rattled the woodwork. Then Hislop hit the post after a charging run for Stirling in the 63rd minute.
There was still goals in the game, you sensed, and a good move between sub Adam Wilson and Harris put Cai Macdonald through on the right and his rasping shot was pushed behind for a corner.
Burgh were dealt a damaging blow with 2 incidents in 2 minutes. First Stirling took the lead to make it 2-1 in the 78th minute with a well-taken volley at the back post by Lennon and then a few moments later Burgh were reduced to 10 men when Jamie Fyfe was dismissed for dissent.
Against the odds, Burgh managed to find an equaliser in the 84th minute when Macdonald showed one of his typical charging runs into the box. With grit and determination he held off challenges to fire a low shot into the bottom left hand corner of the net and it looked like Burgh had salvaged a 2-2 draw.
Alas, it was not meant to be. In the 89th minute, a powerful Navarro low shot was saved by the diving Russell but unfortunately the ball looped nicely into the path of Stirling sub Aigbokie who had the simple task of nodding it into the net from close range.
It was a sickening blow for Burgh in a game that could have easily gone either way. The team will need to pick themselves up, dust themselves down quickly as Albion Rovers are in town on Saturday!
