By a quirk of fate, Dunbar United had been drawn to face Arthurlie in the Scottish Junior Cup for the second successive season, having defeated the West Superleague side at New Countess Park in the third round last November.

Geoff Jones went into his first game in the competition as a manager knowing full well his team faced a stern test – only Haddington Athletic had inflicted defeat on his Dunbar team over the course of his first 11 games in charge but Arthurlie looked to present a serious obstacle to any hopes he had of guiding the Seasiders into the third round.

Continuing injury problems didn’t help the Dunbar cause, and further call-offs on Saturday morning from Connor Wood, Kevin Carter and Sam Gatt further lengthened the odds on an away win.

Conditions weren’t easy at Dunterlie Park, with the pitch very heavy and a strong cross-wind making things difficult for both sets of players. Arthurlie were on the offensive straight from the start, and were unlucky not to take an early lead when Burns struck a post with his shot before the Dunbar defence cleared. At the other end, Sam Young almost capitalised on a defensive mix-up but could only fire over the bar from a tough angle.

McCardle and Dallas for Arthurlie forced saves from Kieran Beveridge, and Young again for Dunbar put a shot just over the bar after turning his marker on the edge of the box. Arthurlie, though, took the lead on 28 minutes when a long ball out of defence found Dallas on the right and he fired home from a tight angle – Dunbar, however, fought back and Shaun Hill fired wide before Steven Tait saw his header cleared off the line.

A second Arthurlie goal gave the hosts some breathing space on 34 minutes, Liam McFarlane’s clearance unfortunately rebounding back into the path of Burns, who he had newly dispossessed, and Dallas headed in from the cross. Beveridge brought off a great double save as Arthurlie threatened a third goal, while his opposite number White saved well from Danny Taylor and Young went close with a header. A recurrence of Jamie Burstow’s hamstring injury saw him replaced by Stevie Ferguson a couple of minutes before the break – Dunbar went in two goals behind but, having created openings, they retained a degree of hope.

Dunbar started the second half in determined mindset and might have had a penalty when a Ferguson shot appeared to be handled in the box, but the referee waved play on. Chris Grant was close to scoring for Dunbar when Hill’s free-kick came off his knee but the ball went narrowly past the post with the home defence beaten.

The Seasiders enjoyed a good 10-15-minute spell but against the run of play Arthurlie made it 3-0 with an hour played – a long defensive clearance found a home player on the right, seemingly well offside but not in the officials’ eyes; the ball was played across goal and McGregor only had to tap it home.

Beveridge was called into action again to save from McCardle as Arthurlie threatened to add a fourth, which they duly did when a cross from the right was deflected into the path of Stewart, who finished from close range. With 12 minutes to play Dunbar conceded a fifth goal after Smith beat their offside trap, hitting the post before watching as McTernan tucked away the rebound.

The visitors, with nothing now to lose, kept pressing forward and Ferguson, Young and Hill all spurned chances to net a consolation before Stewart scored Arthurlie’s sixth controversially, prodding the ball home after colliding with Beveridge when the young keeper had the ball in his hands. This incensed Dunbar coach Derek Aitken, who was sent from the dugout by the referee.

The 6-0 scoreline was tough on Dunbar but the experience won’t harm the development of their younger players.

Stoneyburn Juniors are the visitors at New Countess Park on Saturday on league business, and they themselves suffered the worst cup thrashing last week as they succumbed to a 10-0 annihilation at Bo’ness United. Prior to this, however, Stoneyburn were one of the division’s form teams, and shouldn’t be underestimated.