A fortnight on from their Fife & Lothians Cup victory over Crossgates Primrose, Dunbar United returned to action with a challenging fixture away at West Calder United.

Dunbar boss Geoff Jones had his selection process affected by a number of injuries and was without Ross Cowan and Gary McCormack.

The visitors went for the jugular from the outset and Keith Tait brought a great save out of home keeper McQuillan just three minutes in. Stevie Ferguson also came close before Chris Grant miskicked with only McQuillan to beat. With quarter of an hour gone, Darryl Wilson was hurt following a challenge from striker Brown – the Dunbar centre half required lengthy treatment before gamely resuming.

With 19 minutes gone, Connor Wood in the visitors’ goal had to make his first save. For the most part, though, the Seasiders held the upper hand, and Kevin Morrison’s headed effort almost resulted in his first Dunbar goal.

There was another injury blow for Dunbar when Wilson succumbed to the knee injury suffered earlier – he had to be helped from the field, with Jamie Burstow replacing him. As the interval neared, Keith Tait brought another save from McQuillan, and the teams went in for their break with the deadlock unbroken – no question, though, Dunbar had looked the livelier outfit throughout.

There were chances at either end early in the second half, a Shaun Hill shot testing the home keeper before a scrambled effort in the Dunbar box was cleared by Morrison. On 55 minutes Brown was unlucky not to open the scoring for the hosts when his shot rebounded off the post, and eight minutes later Dunbar took the lead in controversial circumstances. The referee deemed McQuillan guilty of picking up a passback and awarded the visitors an indirect free-kick in the box, taken by Danny Taylor, who set up Burstow for a shot through a ruck of players and into the Cauther net.

Brown twice came close to levelling as the hosts sought a way back into the game. With 10 minutes to go, West Calder were reduced to 10 men, Brown collecting his second booking for a bad tackle on Keith Tait. Seeking to take advantage of numerical superiority, Dunbar came close through a Hill volley before Sam Gatt was kept out by McQuillan.

A minute later, the referee judged Kevin Carter guilty of a foul which warranted a red card, and pointed to the penalty spot, although there was doubt as to whether the offence actually took place inside the box. Fox levelled from the spot despite Wood’s best efforts. Grant had a chance to win the game for Dunbar but he hit the ball wide of target and they had to make do with a point.

Jones and his players considered this two points dropped given they’d been on top for much of the game, and they’ll look to ensure they pick up three points on Saturday when Pumpherston Juniors visit New Countess Park.

Pumpherston have suffered at the hands of East Lothian teams already this season, losing 6-1 to Tranent and 7-2 to Haddington, both at home, the latter defeat proving the final straw for manager Mattie Coulter. Anything other than a comfortable win for Dunbar would be something of a surprise.