An injury-hit Dunbar side bounced back from three consecutive defeats to beat Linlithgow at the weekend.

Such was the shortage of players the Hallhill club had to call upon Steve Bisset, previously retired, to take a place on the bench, while James Kelly started on the wing, having played only a handful of matches in the past two seasons.

Also among the replacements were the returning Jamie Peters, and another of the emergency call-ups, head coach Callum Low.

The home side, having won their last four matches, started strongly, and took the lead after just six minutes when they kicked an early penalty to make it 3-0.

The home side doubled their lead with a second penalty, before full-back Ross Charlton kicked the county club’s first points of the afternoon.

Dunbar then enjoyed a territorial advantage, with more possession bringing their pack into the match. Great work by Chris Baikie at the breakdown saw the ball sent wide to Antoin Penrose, who beat the covering defender to score in the corner. Charlton’s conversion was well-struck, but came back off the post to leave the score at 9-8.

With half-time approaching, Baikie took a strike against the head at the scrum, before several phases of forward play saw the hosts infringe again, allowing Charlton another chance to kick for the posts. The full-back added the points to give Low’s side a half-time lead at 9-11.

At half-time, the head coach brought himself on for Richie Gallacher in the front-row, while Bisset replaced Kelly and Peters also came on, for Chris Bryce, with Greig Patrizio moving into the back-row.

Playing with the wind in the second period, Dunbar struggled to clear their lines early on, and allowed the hosts to build momentum. The visitors conceded a number of penalties, the last of which saw lock Connor McLellan in the sin bin.

In a tight match, the finest of margins were likely to prove crucial, as the home side took the lead once more from the resulting penalty.

Keith Courtney then replaced Ian Wightman, with Scott Moreton moving to lock to cover the sin-binned McLellan and Kelly returning for Moffat.

Dunbar started to dominate and were awarded a penalty in their own half, but Kieran Donnellan’s attempt fell short.

With McLellan now out of the sin bin, the visitors mauled their way almost 40 metres to the Linlithgow line, before they were hauled down. Several phases of forward play followed thereafter to tie in defenders, and when the ball was worked wide, Moreton was on hand to grab Dunbar’s second try of the afternoon. On a windy afternoon, Charlton saw his conversion drift wide of the uprights.

Gallacher was reintroduced on 67 minutes, bringing to an end head coach Low’s cameo in the front-row. The men in green and white asserted their control and won a penalty on their next visit to the Linlithgow half, which Charlton landed to make it 12-19.

Charlton missed another attempt at the end that would have denied the home side a losing bonus point, and former Preston Lodge man Dougie Thomson, now in Linlithgow colours, was red-carded late on, as the visitors held on for an impressive win. The club now head into Edinburgh Shield action on Saturday as they take on Trinity Accies at Hallhill, with kick-off at 2pm.

Dunbar: R Charlton, S Moreton, G Patrizio, A Penrose, J Kelly; Kieran Donnellan, B Mills; A Wightman, C Baikie, R Gallacher, C McLellan, D Moffat, C Bryce, I Wightman, Kyle Donnellan.