Sixty-one days after appointing Johnny Harvey as manager in the wake of Stevie McLeish’s resignation, Haddington Athletic returned to competitive action last Wednesday night with a home game against Stoneyburn Juniors.

Seven of their starting XI were making their debut, while Joe Murray was listed as a sub after rejoining the club for a second spell, his transfer from Edinburgh United concluded that morning.

Things got off to the best possible start for Haddington as Arran Ponton’s corner from the right was headed in near the back post by Bob Berry, the Stoneyburn marking leaving a lot to be desired, with less than two minutes on the clock.

The Hi Hi dominated possession and passed up on a few half chances before eventually adding a second on 28 minutes, Mark Smith capitalising after good work by Andrew Sinclair, his shot deflecting off a Stoneyburn defender on its way into the net. Smith had a couple more chances before the break, while Scott Wright brought a save from keeper Holliday and Sinclair blazed a shot wide from a good position. It remained 2-0 at the break, with Haddington looking comfortable.

More goals were anticipated after the break, and by and large home dominance continued, but it proved a frustrating 45 minutes in front of goal for the Hi Hi. Murray replaced Sinclair with half an hour left, and was joined by fellow subs Bob Wood and Bob McKenzie in due course, both making their debut.

Murray had the ball in the net with 13 minutes left but the referee ruled him offside, while McKenzie was denied by a good save from Holliday.

Eventually, in the first minute of injury time, Murray’s shot from the left of the box took a wicked deflection off a visiting defender and was diverted into the net for a third goal – a satisfactory start, then, to the Harvey era, although the margin of victory could easily have been higher.

Harvey made just one change for the trip to Whitburn on Saturday, Murray replacing Sinclair in attack. Structural damage at Central Park meant the hosts were still resident at Whitburn Academy, where the Hi Hi had played their last match of the McLeish era as recently as May 17, winning 4-1.

The visitors got off to a dream start when the opening goal materialised with less than a minute played, Ponton’s shot from 25 yards whistling past Allan in the Whitburn goal, aided by the breeze blowing down the park.

The early goal helped the Hi Hi settle but Whitburn levelled in the ninth minute when Bain headed home from a corner – parity was short-lived, though, as a Haddington corner barely a minute later ricocheted around the six-yard box before the ball landed for Berry near the back post, who forced it into the net.

Wth nine minutes of the first half remaining Haddington extended their lead when Murray in a central position met Ponton’s tempting cross six yards out and put the ball past Allan.

The home fans were incensed two minutes from the break when the referee called Taylor offside, a highly dubious decision, when he looked set to score.

Haddington opportunities after the break were limited, but they made one of them count with nine minutes left when sub Michael Noble delivered a telling cross from the left which Murray headed past Allan to give the Hi Hi an unassailable 4-1 lead.

Brass netted a consolation free-kick for the hosts in injury time but Haddington recorded their third consecutive win in the fixture.

Crossgates Primrose are the visitors at Millfield on Saturday, and they’ll be hoping to fare better than on their last visit, when they were trounced 6-0.

The Fife outfit have a fairly young squad but could well provide stuffy opposition.