East Lothian Courier | | Seasiders get off to a winning start against local rivals

Thursday, 28th August, 2008

Published: Thursday, 10th August, 2006 10:26

Seasiders get off to a winning start against local rivals

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DUNBAR kicked off their pre-season preparations with a narrow win over neighbours West Barns and a defeat to senior East of Scotland League side Preston Athletic.

In their first game of the new season last Tuesday, the Seasiders met nearby West Barns Star at New Countess Park to contest the Kenny Wilson Memorial Trophy.

Two goals from McDonald and another from Adam Cheetham helped them to a 3-2 win.

Preston then paid them a visit on saturday and of the 19 players stripped for Dunbar, eight were trialists, while Preston were only able to muster just 12 players and still managed a win.

The Preston team, however, have played together for some time, while it will naturally take some time for the new-look Dunbar to gel.

There was a disastrous start for the hosts as they went behind after just 33 seconds when a cross from the right deflected horribly off Droudge to give the trialist goalkeeper no chance. This proved the only goal of the first half, although Crawford did have the ball in the net for Dunbar, only for the referee to rule it offside.

It had been a closely contested first half, but numerous substitutions in the second half didn’t help Dunbar’s rhythm and they lost a second goal on 63 minutes.

It was 3-0 to Preston with 13 minutes left, before Crawford pulled one back six minutes later but Preston didn’t take long to regain their three-goal advantage, which they retained at the end.

Last season was one to forget for the supporters of Dunbar United, and manager Jock Landells has been busy over the summer in his efforts to ensure there is no repeat in 2006/07.

His assistant Robert Combe has relinquished his post to be replaced by Ally Skillen, and only a few of last season’s players remain at New Countess Park.

There were a number of trialists listed in both of last week’s outings, and there will be more new signings over the next couple of weeks to complement those who have already put pen to paper.

Barrie Richardson, a left-back from Arniston Rangers,Brian Droudge, a versatile player signed from Tranent Juniors,who was previously with the club almost a decade ago.

Graham Clee, a youngster signed from Juvenile football; John Crawford, a promising young striker from Eyemouth United and Colin McDonald, a vastly experienced forward most recently with Whitehill Welfare but with plenty of senior clubs on his CV.

The Seasiders travel to the Borders tomorrow (Friday) to face Gala Fairydean, another club who badly under-achieved last season, then on Tuesday evening amateurs Links United are their guests.

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