Easthouses Lily vs Newburgh Juniors
2 - 0
30 July 2024 · East of Scotland Qualifying Cup
Away cup match played on 30 July 2024.
Kicked off at 7:30 PM
2-0
vs Easthouses Lily
Away cup match
Newburgh quickly returned to competitive action with a visit through to face Easthouses Lily in the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup.
The game, itself, may not have lived up to much in the eyes of the neutral with regards to goalmouth activity for both sides, but for those of a Burgh persuasion keen to see how the new team is bedding in, it was a very positive and encouraging performance from start to finish.
A solid performance, particularly from the defence – marshalled by Man of the Match Matty Mitchell – saw keeper Joe Russell largely a spectator with shots at goal at a premium.
The visitors dominated the possession in the opening 45 minutes and forced three quick corner inside the opening three minutes of the game, before Lewis Stevenson had the game’s first chance with a shot in the 5th minute that floated just over the bar.
New signing CJ Thomson then forced home keeper Hay to push an effort wide in the 19th minute and from the resultant corner Callum Roughead’s header couldn’t quite find the target going just over.
Russell’s first involvement in the game came just after half time when he dived to his left to tip away a shot from Hill for a corner. Then in the 56th minute Leslie rose to glance a header across the Burgh goal with no Easthouses player able to make contact.
In the 69th minute a deep free kick into the Easthouses box from Stevenson found Mitchell unmarked but the big defender couldn’t trouble Hay in the home goal. In the 77th minute, McCallion played a sideways ball to Williamson who turned his man, ran on and fired a shot just wide of the post.
As the match went into extra time, the home side went in search of the winner with little success until the 103rd minute when Kearney rose unmarked from a corner from the right to head home from close range.
As Burgh pushed forward in search of an equaliser, it left spaces at the back to exploit for both Comerford and Hill to kill the tie completely. The second goal, undeservedly came at the very end of extra time as a ball was played across the ball box saw McCallion and Imre go for it, the ball came loose and Imre picked himself up quickest to fire past Russell.
It was a harsh scoreline for Burgh, but it was a performance that was a big improvement on Saturday’s game against Linton and returned to the level we had seen in the pre-season games. The defence, in particular, led by Mitchell, Callum Roughead, Rhys Sneddon and Johnny Malcolm for the most part were solid and impressive. Striker Logan Whyte ran his socks off, as well as Williamson.
Thank you to all at Easthouses for their warm hospitality and best wishes for the next round and the rest of the season.
Man of the Match: Matty Mitchell - a solid, commanding performance.