Since Geoff Jones took over the managerial reins at New Countess Park he’d guided the Seasiders through seven competitive fixtures unbeaten – five South Division victories and one draw, and an impressive East of Scotland Cup victory at St Andrews United, setting them up nicely for their derby visit to Millfield on Saturday.

Haddington too are doing well under new management, though Johnny Harvey had tasted defeat since taking over, albeit only once, in a cup tie against Superleague opponents. The Seasiders sat just two points behind their nearest neighbours, and knew they would leapfrog them should they collect three points.

Unfortunately they were without the services of free-scoring striker Sam Young, in Australia and missing for several weeks. Recent recruit Gary McCormack filled Young’s centre forward role, and another new man in Kevin Morrison made his first start at left-back, with Jay Burstow out injured. There was a not insignificant Haddington connection in the Dunbar ranks, with manager Jones and coach Derek Aitken returning to their old haunt along with Grant Thomson, Darryl Wilson, Kevin Carter and Stevie Ferguson.

The game started in relatively low-key fashion before a brief flashpoint after five minutes illustrated what was at stake, with Wilson and home striker Murray spoken to after a minor spat. The opening goal came with 14 minutes played, after minimal threat at either end previously, when Murray sent a sweet free-kick from 22 yards towards the corner – Connor Wood dived the right way but couldn’t keep the ball out.

Another Haddington chance moments later was wasted, and around the 20-minute mark Dunbar threatened the home goal for the first time. An inviting ball into the box didn’t fall quite as McCormack would’ve liked and was quickly cleared, then Chris Grant made headway down the left before cutting along the byeline – disappointingly he hit the ball straight into the arms of home keeper Polowyj.

On the half-hour Grant again got past defender Szemis and set up McCormack for the shot, but he put it harmlessly past. Three minutes later a slack pass from Morrison gifted the ball to Murray, who quickly played it on to Sinclair in space on the left but the referee blew his whistle to signal offside. Haddington had a couple more chances before the break and had they been more clinical might have been further ahead, but as it was just the solitary goal split the teams.

Haddington had a couple of chances early in the second half before the Seasiders enjoyed a spell to the fore, with Keith Tait coming close to scoring on 65 minutes after a clever play saw him get past home defenders. Just three minutes later Haddington went two goals in front through Sinclair to make Dunbar’s task all the harder, and Wood had to look lively a couple of minutes later to beat Murray to an inviting delivery from Noble.

On 72 minutes McCormack’s free-kick whizzed narrowly past the post, but Dunbar did score with 12 minutes left to play when Carter got in ahead of McCormack to head home from a free-kick swung in from the left – Polowyj got a hand to it but couldn’t keep it out.

Dunbar now turned their thoughts to an equaliser, but Haddington saw more of the ball in the closing 10 minutes and spurned a number of opportunities to put the game out of sight.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men with four minutes left when Ross Cowan was red-carded for bringing Smith down just inside the penalty area, but Wood did well to dive the right way to punch away Murray’s spot kick. This left the Seasiders with a glimmer of hope but there was to be no further scoring and Haddington prevailed.

There’s a break from league business on Saturday when Dunbar welcome league rivals Crossgates Primrose to New Countess Park for a first-round tie in the Fife & Lothians Cup. Crossgates’ results so far this season indicate Dunbar should earn their passage to the second round, with the Fifers having gone down 8-0 at Haddington and 3-0 at Tranent.