East Lothian Courier | Sport | Tranent’s late collapse loses three goal lead

Thursday, 24th July, 2008

Published: Thursday, 27th March, 2008 11:40

Tranent’s late collapse loses three goal lead

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Newtongrange Star 2 v 2 Musselburgh Athletic

THE visitors started brightly and forced a handful of early corners without really managing to put pressure on Ronnie McPherson’s goal.

For Burgh, King had the net bulging after CJ Osazuwa directed the ball into his path, but the referee ruled it as offside.

With 15 minutes gone, it was the home side who went in front when Manson tucked away a cross from the right.

The goal came against the run of play, but buoyed by the goal, Burgh laid seige to the Star goal for the remainder of the first half.

King came close, as did team-mates Danny Kelly, Paul Tansey, Paul Currie and Osazuwa.

However, it was the visitor’s King who levelled with half an hour played. A superb shot giving him his 17th goal of this campaign.

Despite an abundance of effort Musselburgh had only the one goal to their name in the first half and so the sides went in on level terms.

With less than an hour gone, Star were reduced to ten men when Wilson picked up two yellow cards in the space of five minutes.

Burgh, whose disciplinary record in recent weeks had improved greatly, had six men booked.

They kept the home defence busy in the second half and went ahead 10 minutes from time when a Star player was deemed to have handled in the box. Currie despatched the penalty beyond Burgess.

Burgh suffered a cruel blow late on when Thomson struck an equaliser from the spot with just two minutes left.

Haddington Athletic 2 v 1 Harthill Royal 1

ROYAL enjoyed much of the early pressure, but some intelligent play down the left flank led to Haddington going ahead after just nine minutes.

Gilmour was the provider, with a great cross from almost on the byeline.

With the visitors’ keeper stretching in vain, Michael Motion steadied himself beforeheading home from six yards.

The goal settled Haddington and they played some clever football at times, with Finlayson and Wojcik linking up well in attack, ably supported by the midfield.

Finlayson headed just over as the half hour approached, and Wojcik also had a couple of chances to score.

Royal had been stunned by the loss of the opening goal, but they equalised five minutes from the break with the home defence posted missing.

A free kick was conceded by Lukasz Rusin a few yards inside the Haddington half, and the ball was played deep into the penalty area where a lurking John Connelly had space and time to head past a static Chris Hill.

Finlayson had the ball in the net three minutes later from a free kick but it was ruled offside. Just before the break, a Wojcik header flashed just wide of goal.

Wojcik had a clear view of the Harthill goal on 53 minutes, but dragged his shot wide when he could’ve done better.

The Hi Hi had the edge, with the visitors failing to trouble the home goal, and another well-worked goal after 73 minutes sealed the three points.

Myles and Wojcik started a move that saw, the latter finding Finlayson inside the visitors’ box. The big striker scored with a cool finish.

Finlayson almost had another when the bounce of the ball deceived the keeper.

He also had a strong claim for a penlaty with two minutes to go, when he was impeded in the box.

But the referee didn’t see the foul and allowed play to continue.

Broxburn Athletic 0 v 1 Dunbar United

THE teams were evenly matched in the early stages, with the Seasiders best openings falling to Adam Cheetham and Brian Martin but without the desired outcome.

They went ahead after 19 minutes when Andy Donlevy directed a corner towards the back post, where it came off the head of home defender Rarity and ended up in the Broxburn net.

The home side set out to get back on level terms but didn’t have the guile to finish off the chances they created.

Stuart Ferrier did well after 30 minutes to save a threatening shot from Craig. Just before the interval, Donlevy on the goal-line was hit square on the face by a fierce shot from Logan, and had to be substituted as a result.

Despite the home pressure, Dunbar were still a goal in front at half-time.

The second half was mostly without incident, but Broxburn were outraged on 62 minutes when the ball appeared to hit Peters’ hand in the Dunbar penalty area. But no penalty was awarded.

Shots on goal were few and far between, but Brian Martin wasn’t far away with 15 minutes left when his shot was blocked by Broxburn keeper McCann.

Tranent Juniors 3 v 3 Stoneyburn Juniors

TRANENT dominated the opening 45 minutes but, not for the first time this season, failed to turn their superiority into goals.

The visitors were hemmed into their own half, but they survived until the interval without conceding a goal.

The goals eventually came for Tranent in the second half, with Ryan Gibb netting the first within 10 minutes of the restart.

Keith Auld then notched a quickfire double within the space of four minutes. At this stage it seemed that a home victory was a formality.

But influential defender, Mark Burke, had to leave the field with a hamstring injury, and then with 12 minutes remaining, McEwan was substituted after a terrific performance in central midfield.

The loss of two of their star men affected the Tranent youngsters and the shortage of experience in their ranks began to tell as the match progressed into the final stages.

Stoneyburn scored two goals in quick succession to put the visitors’ tails up, and as the final whistle neared, a controversial penalty allowed them to equalise and so claim their first point of the season.

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