Dominant Burgh Seal Points In 'groundhog Day' Meeting

Newburgh welcomed back Edinburgh Community to East Shore Park for their second visit inside 8 days with both sides looking to pick up the points after the previous 2-2 draw.

The home side started brightly, with Nichita Cotorobai, making his first start on the left wing, looking particularly impressive and dangerous.

In the 4th minute, there was a penalty shout as Cotorobai beat his man and the defender fell on the ball but the referee didn’t see a handball and as the ball was looped back into the box by Ryan Daly, keeper Cawley caused his defence a moment of panic as the ball bounced over his head and rescued before Andrew McCallion could poke home.

On 6 minutes a Ronnie Martin corner was flicked across goal towards Cammy Taylor who headed back across goal with the ball falling to Mackenzie Williamson who headed just over.

There was another penalty shout for handball in the 13th minute when more trickery from Cotorobai played a ball to the opposite side of the area for Williamson whose shot cannoned off the hand off a defender at close range.

Cotorobai continued to ask questions and cause problems for the Edinburgh right back and he again weaved his magic to pass for Williamson, who in turned laid back for Taylor to poke a low effort into the keeper’s grateful hands.

On the half hour mark, Cammy Newsome played pushed forward to play a one-two with Andy McCallion and fire a shot with power into the body of the keeper.

The opening goal duly came in the 33rd minute and, again, owed much to Cotorobai as he beat 3 defenders before laying back to Andy McCallion to stab home with the keeper unable to push away for his 19th goal of the campaign.

The second goal wasn’t long in coming as Martin’s free kick into the box was flicked on by Williamson for Taylor to head into the far corner of the net in the 39th minute.

Before the break, Cotorobai and Martin combined on the left wing for Martin to cut back for McCallion whose shot was deflected past the post for a corner.

Goal number 3 arrived on the hour mark following a Martin corner on the left that was headed in by Williamson past a crowd of bodies and McCallion in front of the keeper for a goal big Mack deserved for his efforts.

Andy McCallion was still hungry for more goals and saw another effort deflected off a defender and narrowly away from goal with Cawley able to pounce on the ball to stop the corner.

On 70 minutes a short free kick by McCallion played Williamson through but Cawley was fractionally quicker to the ball to prevent the finish.

On 71 minutes Jack Robertson was brought on for his Burgh debut and he immediately made an impact on the left hand side, but not before Owen McCallion won possession well and drove on to fire a shot just over the bar.

Robertson nearly managed to score a debut goal when a floated cross from the right by Calum Geddes found the Burgh sub who cannoned a header off the post in the 76th minute.

Goal number 4 came with a move started by Man of the Match Newsome in midfield who played it from right to left to Owen McCallion, who in turn moved it left to Robertson. The Burgh sub fired a ball towards goal that wasn’t cleared by defender Ferim and Andy McCallion was on hand for a poacher’s goal to flick past the advancing Cawley for 4-0.

With the game won, manager Andy Healy shuffled his pack giving a well-earned rest to Newsome, Taylor and Williamson whilst Edinburgh made their final allotted change.

That change came a minute too soon for the visitors, however, as they were plunged into crisis on 84 minutes when McCallion went for a long ball into the box and collided with keeper Cawley. Unfortunately for Edinburgh, the keeper was unable to continue with what appeared to be a bang to the ribs and an outfield player having to take over between the sticks.

The stand-in keeper did, however, do well to deny Finn Bannerman with at least two efforts in the final moments.

It was a much-improved performance from Burgh after the previous week’s lethargic meeting against the same opponents, but it was also a result that was never really threatened once the opening goal had gone in as the central midfield of Newsome and Owen McCallion dominated and broke up any threats. It also presented keeper Scott Kyles with his first clean sheet of the season.

Man of the Match: Cammy Newsome