DUNBAR United had already wasted four Saturdays on their East of Scotland Cup second-round tie at Lochore Welfare, the fixture having fallen foul of wintry weather four weeks in succession before the fixture secretary snapped and gave Dunbar a home league game against Lochgelly Albert a fortnight ago.

With conditions seemingly improved, it was decided to have a fifth go at the outstanding cup tie at the weekend and, after Saturday-morning fears of another weather-induced postponement proved unfounded, the travelling Dunbar party wound their way to central Fife, their team favourites to progress despite recent poor form – Lochore after all were second bottom of the North Division and largely unfamiliar with the winning feeling this season.

Seasiders boss Geoff Jones gave a first start to Dalkeith Thistle loanee Sean McCormack in midfield, who replaced cup-tied Ross Colquhoun, and had also to contend with the absence of several other players. Conditions were less than pleasant at Lochore’s Central Park and the pitch was in no great shape either. There really wasn’t a lot between the teams over the course of the opening 45 minutes but it was the Seasiders who went in front midway through, Keith Tait latching on to a long ball from the left of defence and lifting the ball neatly over the Welfare keeper.

Just over 10 minutes later, the visitors’ lead was doubled when a free-kick delivered into the box was headed powerfully home by top scorer Sam Young, but Lochore reduced the deficit with the last attack before the half-time whistle, the Dunbar defence caught napping as a home striker mis-hit a shot past Connor Wood.

The second half wasn’t long under way when Steven Tait made the score 3-1 in Dunbar’s favour, steering the ball into the net after Lochore’s keeper could only parry a Sam Young shot into his path. At this stage the odds clearly favoured the visitors, but rather than going for the jugular they opted to sit back and try to hold on to their lead.

The hosts pulled a goal back around the hour mark, a really poor one to lose from a defensive perspective, and with Dunbar on the ropes they went on to score two more in relatively quick succession around the 80-minute mark.

The equaliser came from a long ball that caught the Dunbar defence square, the Lochore goalscorer lashing the ball beyond Wood, then what proved the winner came from a highly contentious free-kick.

A long ball appeared to bounce and hit Ross Cowan on the hand, but the referee took what Dunbar followers saw as the outrageous view he’d handled intentionally, flashing the red card to the bemused defender, before Lochore scored from the dead ball.

Shortly after this, Dunbar were reduced to nine men after Danny Taylor collected a second booking, then with two minutes left a grim afternoon concluded with the referee denying what appeared a blatant penalty in Dunbar’s favour, instead booking Keith Tait for diving.

On Saturday, Dunbar face another tough task in trying to stop the rot when they face Livingston United in West Lothian – they endured an awful start to the season but have picked up considerably in recent times and on recent form must start as favourites.