Newburgh Juniors vs Arniston Rangers
2 - 4
22 October 2022 · East of Scotland<br>Third Division
Home league match played on 22 October 2022.
Kicked off at 2:30 PM
2-4
vs Arniston Rangers
Home league match
Burgh welcomed Arniston to East Shore Park looking for their third win on the trot, but against strong opposition looking for revenge for Newburgh’s 2-1 win at Newbyres Park earlier in the season.
The first chance of the game fell to top scorer Kellar Harris in the 7th minute but he couldn’t direct his header on target from Jamie Gay’s free kick.
Gay had a good chance in the 16th minute after Cai MacDonald latched onto a throw-in and laid off the ball to ‘Jives’ to run on. His low shot seemed to hit a bobble on its way to goal, which made the save from the keeper even better. Moments later Rory Marshall was put through by Harris but his shot flew into the side netting.
Arniston took the lead in the 22nd minute from a free-kick with the Burgh defence slow to response to the danger and Laidlaw received a low ball and turned to fire home through a crowd of bodies into the far corner.
In the 30th minute a deep cross from the left was met by McManus who beat his marker to head home from close range to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.
Burgh were doing their best to withhold Arniston pressure with Chalmers and the defence called into action a number of times before Kennedy got the better of the Burgh defensive challenge to set up Laidlaw with the chance to slot home from close range for 3-0 on 39 minutes.
The second half saw Burgh fighting hard to get back into the game, and to their credit very nearly doing so. MacDonald pulled a goal back on 49 minutes with a brilliant volley into the far corner from Gay’s free kick into the far post.
Andrew Cameron then went close moments later with a header at the far post which the Arniston keeper scrambled away for a corner.
Burgh pulled a second goal back from the penalty spot after Marshall’s cross was handled by the diving Arniston defender with his arm raised. Harris no mistake from the spot and it looked game on at 3-2 with the second half only 13 minutes old.
The ultimately defining moment came in the 63rd minute when Newburgh were awarded their second penalty of the game when Marshall was brought down in the box. Unfortunately, the Arniston keeper guessed right from Harris’s spot-kick, and followed it up to block the rebound.
Arniston were then reduced to 10 men in the 65th minute after something was said to the referee and Burgh kept battling to get back into the game.
With time running out, a free kick into the box was headed home from close range by Greig to put the visitors 4-2 up with 8 minutes of normal time remaining.
Despite their best efforts, Newburgh couldn’t find a way back into his game as Arniston held on for victory.