Newburgh Juniors vs St. Andrews United
0 - 3
24 September 2022 · East of Scotland<br>Third Division
Home league match played on 24 September 2022.
Kicked off at 2:30 PM
0-3
vs St. Andrews United
Home league match
The Burgh welcomed local neighbours St. Andrews United to East Shore Park in front of a bumper crowd with a view to claiming bragging rights. Ultimately defensive mistakes and a lack of clinical play in the final third against a strong Saints side was the home side’s undoing. It was a fairly tight, but often heated game as you would expect in a local derby, but the Saints came out stronger to claim the points.
Rory Marshall had Burgh’s first chance in the 12th minute when he met Struan Grieve’s dinked ball into him with a sweet volley that had keeper Brodie beaten but also the crossbar by inches. It was a great strike, the sort of finish you know Rory is capable of.
The Saints had a chance of their own in the 23rd minute when Khyyam had an effort cleared off the line before the visitors opened the scoring. A combination of a failure for the Burgh defence to clear their lines and a fortuitous number of bounces presented Saints skipper Reekie with a chance to power home a low shot that his marauding run deserved.
Cai MacDonald was looking sharp up front for the home side and was very unlucky with a long range strike that again beat keeper and upright just wide of the far post in the 28th minute. Ronan Hall also couldn’t quite get a final touch ahead of the advancing Brodie to present himself a goalscoring opportunity.
Jamie Gay’s dangerous deep cross into the St. Andrews area couldn’t quite find its target and a desperate lunge put the ball behind for a corner. From the resultant corner Andrew Cameron came close to getting his head were if not for the hand of Brodie who flicked the ball away.
The visitors had a great chance to make it 2-0 before the break when MacKenzie should have done better with his effort but instead he only found the Clubhouse behind the goal and not the net.
The killer goal came in the 50th minute when a looped effort from Ewan White on the left was a little too high enough for keeper David Chalmers to get a clean grab off and the ball flew between his fingertips and looped into the far corner.
Heads seemed to drop a bit after that, but there was still a time for a few hot-headed challenges to go in with a bad looking challenge on Gay causing a couple of yellow cards for the visitors. Equally, substitute Ryan Lawson could perhaps consider himself lucky with a robust challenge in front of the Saints dugout and supporters in the 81st minute.
Burgh didn’t seem to look able to pull a goal and the Saints sidelines were praising the referee for playing 6 minutes of injury time after moments earlier questioning the added time as Redpath executed a very well taken finish low into the left hand corner of the net.
It was a harsh defeat, but ultimately Burgh were made to pay for a couple of rare defensive lapses which had been missing recently.
Next week we are on the road to Ormiston Primrose.