Great Haddington Athletic momentum through November and into December saw them consolidate strongly their position at the top of the South Division table, a run of six straight wins ending with a 2-1 home win over fellow promotion challengers Rosyth.

Winter weather then interrupted and in the three games played since the turn of the year they had picked up four points from nine, though that would have been six had they not allowed 10-man Blackburn to rescue a point after trailing 3-0 in West Lothian a week earlier.

Boss Johnny Harvey kept faith with the same XI who’d started both previous games and play got under way on a bright but cold afternoon by the banks of the Forth.

Play hadn’t really settled when Rosyth were awarded a free-kick 25 yards from goal with just eight minutes played and former Rosyth keeper Derek Polowyj was beaten when Penman’s effort deflected off the defensive wall.

Things immediately worsened when possession was quickly conceded after play restarted, Gilfillan scoring a second for Rosyth from a few yards in the face of inadequate defensive resistance.

If there were positives there were at least 80 minutes in which to turn things around, but a nightmare first half took another negative turn with just 20 minutes played, Chris Gordon’s attempt to pass the ball to Polowyj on the right of his penalty area falling short and allowing Rosyth’s top scorer Hampson to nip in and direct the ball into the empty net.

Hi Hi skipper Chris Gray had a header cleared off the line following a Michael Noble corner from the right, with some taking the view the ball might have momentarily crossed the line, but that was a mere flicker of hope in what was a desperately disappointing first half. Gray was booked just after the half hour for something said to the referee and when he got involved in a brief flare-up, along with others from both sides, he collected a second yellow card to leave Haddington with 10 men for the first time this season, their disciplinary record having been excellent generally.

At 3-0 at the interval and facing energetic opposition with their tails now very much up with only 10 men, it looked as if the second half would be a damage limitation exercise.

For the first 15 minutes after play restarted, the Hi Hi enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and kept the majority of play inside the Rosyth half. Andrew Sinclair saw an effort blocked on the line on 53 minutes and Arran Ponton saw home keeper Mayne save his shot comfortably as the visitors sought to improve the scoreline, but Rosyth then scored with their first attack of the second half, MacMillan finishing from six yards after the ball was passed to his feet from the left of the penalty area.

It was 5-0 barely five minutes later following more calamitous defending, Gilfillan netting on the volley, and the roof appeared to be caving in on Haddington as Rosyth’s sixth followed on 69 minutes, a suspiciously offside Hampson scoring again following a quick move upfield.

Alarm bells were ringing now amid fears of annihilation but there was no further scoring, though Noble had to intervene with five minutes left to deprive Hampson of his hat-trick. It was truly awful afternoon for the Hi Hi, the margin of defeat of course the biggest shock.

On Saturday there’s a derby at Millfield as Haddington look to get back on the rails, with Tranent Juniors the visitors. Tranent are under new management, Harvey’s assistant Gary Small having accepted the challenge of improving Tranent’s fortunes after eight months at Millfield and two years as right-hand man to the Hi Hi’s boss – Small, however, won’t be present on Saturday due to a prior engagement. Harvey will have his men reminded how well they’ve done in general this season, and won’t dwell on last week’s embarrassment as sights are set on securing promotion as soon as possible.