East Lothian Courier | Sport | Juniors round-up: Hi-Hi still unbeaten after five-goal rout

Friday, 25th July, 2008

Published: Thursday, 27th September, 2007 12:30

Juniors round-up: Hi-Hi still unbeaten after five-goal rout

Haddington Athletic were the only county winners in junior football at the weekend with a comfortable 5-0 victory at Millfield against Stoneyburn Juniors which maintained their unbeaten start in the South Division.

Dunbar United lost their 100 per cent record when they went down 4-0 to Broxburn Athletic at New Countess Park, while Tranent Juniors also suffered a home defeat by Fauldhouse United.

In the Premier Division, Musselburgh Athletic shared the spoils with Newtongrange Star after a dramatic flurry of goals in injury-time.

Musselburgh have another important league game at Olive Bank tomorrow, (Saturday) when Bo’ness United are their visitors. Tranent and Haddington meet at Foresters Park in a county derby, while Dunbar look to get back on the rails away to Dalkeith Thistle.

Haddington 5 - Stoneyburn 0

THE H-Hi remain unbeaten in the South Division after a five-goal stroll over the inexperienced Stoneyburn Juniors on Saturday in their first match at Millfield in over a month.

Derek Slight and Kevin Bowmaker were recalled to the starting line-up, with Jackie Myles dropping to the bench and Davie Anderson absent on holiday.

Bowmaker and Jamie Connelly had Haddington’s first efforts on goal as they dominated play early on, and the opening goal arrived after 15 minutes when a Slight cross from the left was diverted into the path of Kevin Murray who slammed the ball past the 17-year-old trialist in the visitors’ goal.

Scott Gibson came close to making it 2-0 within a few minutes but Haddington failed to score again in the first half despite dominating play.

Lukasz Rusin grabbed the second on 49 minutes when he did brilliantly to lift the ball over the keeper while grounded at a tight angle. Stoneyburn almost pulled one back on 57 minutes with their only shot of the afternoon, but Chris Hill in goal did enough to keep it out.

Skipper Michael Motion put the result beyond doubt after 71 minutes with a deft finish, and the tiring Stoneyburn were punished further when Gibson stabbed home his first goal for Haddington with 10 minutes remaining.

Substitute Alex Finlayson teed up Rusin for the fifth with a minute left to round off what was a fairly easy victory in the end.

Musselburgh 2 - Newtongrange Star 2

A ROSS BARNES equaliser five minutes into injury-time saved a point for Musselburgh after a flurry of action in the closing stages of the match saw three goals scored.

Experienced ex-Camelon and Linlithgow ‘keeper Ronnie McPherson made his Musselburgh debut and Ross Barnes replaced Davie Turnbull up front.

McPherson was called on twice in the opening minutes and impressed with good saves and the home side could have taken the lead on 20 minutes after a mix-up in the Star defence, but there was no Burgh player waiting to capitalise.

But Chris King shot them into the lead on 30 minutes after receiving a Paul Tansey pass and holding off the challenge of two visiting defenders before finishing well. The same player had another good opportunity from a similar position shortly afterwards, but could only shoot straight at keeper Burgess and it remained 1-0 at the interval.

After a couple of chances towards the end of the first half, Star continued to apply pressure and Britton should have done better with a header from a yard out when he put the ball over the bar.

They eventually got their reward with five minutes left, when the referee awarded a penalty against Burgh’s Mark Quinn for a foul on Roseburgh and Manson netted from the spot. An Andy Porteous header in the last minute almost gave Burgh the three points but with Burgess beaten the ball hit the post and rebounded back into the keeper’s arms.

Star took the lead with 92 minutes on the clock when Dunbar lashed home after the Burgh defence failed to clear, but Barnes saved the day three minutes later by scrambling the ball over the line in a crowded penalty area.

Dunbar 0 - Broxburn 4

BOTH Dunbar and Broxburn had 100 per cent records going into this match but only one emerged with that record intact as four goals from Broxburn sealed the win for the West Lothian club.

Dunbar were without the services of top scorer Colin McDonald who was replaced by John Crawford and Scott Barclay returned with Graeme Nisbet dropping out.

It took Broxburn just 45 minutes to make virtually sure of all three points as they completely outplayed the Seasiders in the first half. Had it not been for wasteful finishing they could have had the match wrapped up even sooner.

The visitors had missed two gilt-edged chances by the time Craig opened the scoring on 21 minutes and the second goal came a minute before the break after a mix-up between keeper Stuart Ferrier and centre-half Gary Peters allowed prolific striker Chilton to chip the ball home.

Worse was to come for Peters, whose crude challenge on Young allowed Cunningham to make it 3-0 at half-time from the spot.

Dunbar improved in the second half and substitute Adam Cheetham hit the bar, but Broxburn’s sub Wood hit an excellent long-range shot past Ferrier deep into injury-time to round things off.

Tranent 0 - Fauldhouse 3

TWO defeats from three at the new Foresters Park doesn’t make good reading for Belters boss Stevie McLeish after they crashed 3-0 to Fauldhouse.

There were four changes to the team which started against Edinburgh the previous week with Mark Scally replacing Ross Combe in goal and Kenny Hall made his debut at left-back. Craig Smith and Mark McEwan both returned.

It was Tranent who were first to get the ball in the net in the opening minutes when United keeper Connolly fumbled a long ball from Hall and Joe Murray nipped in to score, but the referee ruled the strike was illegal.

The visitors went ahead on 13 minutes when a corner was headed goalwards and Dolan applied the finishing touch from close range. Tranent held their own for most of the first half but an experienced Fauldhouse side doubled their lead shortly before the break when McGeachie’s low angled effort gave Scally little chance.

A third Fauldhouse goal eight minutes into the second half made sure of the points, after a raking shot hit the post and rebounded to Burrows who had only to tap the ball home at point-blank range. Dolan could have added a fourth for Fauldhouse, but Scally brought off a great save.

It was the first time this season Tranent have failed to score a goal.

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