Haddington Athletic took on Crossgates Primrose at an overcast Millfield on Saturday aiming to build on their good start to the South Division campaign, with six points from their opening two games.

The Fife outfit had lost 6-0 on their previous visit last November, but they ended the Hi Hi’s promotion dream last year with a 1-0 win at their Humbug Park home in March and Millfield boss Johnny Harvey had his players well warned against complacency.

An injury to Mark Smith saw Harvey make one change to the XI who’d started at Whitburn, with Andrew Sinclair starting up front.

The opening stages were fairly low key, with the best chance falling to Sinclair in the fifth minute, but he was denied by a save from Primrose keeper Wotherspoon – not an athletic figure but his team’s saviour on numerous occasions over the course of a tough afternoon.

Sinclair made it 1-0 from six yards out as the clock hit the 11-minute mark, the crown of a visiting defender’s head having directed Matty Lynch’s cross invitingly into his path, but this didn’t lift the Hi Hi particularly and their first-half showing was rather leaden. McNeill might well have equalised for Crossgates when he broke forward after Michael Fairnie uncharacteristically conceded possession, but Derek Polowyj stood up to make the save. Three corners in quick succession followed but the danger passed and Crossgates were rarely seen as an attacking force thereafter.

There were occasional flashes of good football from Haddington but it looked as if Sinclair’s goal would be all that separated the teams at the break, until Crossgates suffered a double whammy right on half-time. Sinclair on the right played the ball forward to Joe Murray, who had time to round the committed keeper and slide the ball into the net to make it 2-0, but to make things worse for the visitors they were reduced to 10 men, the already-booked defender Beveridge having almost taken Sinclair out as he released the ball.

Scott Wright netted his first competitive goal in junior football in the 49th minute, firing home from 12 yards when Sinclair cut the ball back into his path, and added a second shortly afterwards – with a little more luck he could have had a quickfire hat-trick but Wotherspoon saved.

Club captain Chris Gray was introduced to the Hi Hi’s team for his first taste of competitive action in their colours on 53 minutes and the visitors’ defence struggled to cope with his powerful runs down the left. A needless push on Murray just inside the box saw Matty Lynch given the chance to make it 5-0 from the penalty spot on 58 minutes, and he duly scored. Nine minutes later Sinclair scored the pick of the day’s goals with a super volley, the ball having not touched the ground from Gray’s throw-in to fellow sub Bob McKenzie, who flicked it back into his path.

It was very one-sided now, and had it not been for some exceptional saves the Hi Hi would have hit double figures; as it was they settled for two more goals, both coming from corners, with Murray claiming a second 11 minutes from time and Gray heading in with five minutes left.

A tougher contest is expected on Saturday against Falkirk Juniors, temporarily making use of the artificial surface at the nearby home of Falkirk FC while a new running track is laid at their Grangemouth Stadium base. Michael Motion misses out, on holiday abroad, while McKenzie has been released at his own request after a short stint in junior football.