Burgh returned to East Shore Park for the visit of Fauldhouse United for the fourth encounter of the season between the two sides.
The first half was a match that saw the visitors applying a lot of pressure and the first goal was going to shape how the game panned out.
In the 5th minute Andrew McCallion latched onto a poor touch from a Fauldhouse defender to run on a charge to goal, but his final ball was able to find the advancing Ronnie Martin to set up a shot on goal.
Fauldhouse looked strong and imposing moving forward and a good move started by Murray played a ball wide to Ghoul on the left and his deep cross found the head of MacDonald whose header just looped over the bar moments later.
MacDonald would find the target, however, in the 13th minute a deep cross from just inside the Burgh half found the Fauldhouse striker’s head and he excellently sent another looping header over the head of Scott Kyles in the home goal to give the ‘Hoose’ the lead.
The goal, understandably, gave the visitors a boost and they sensed blood and forced a period of pressure on Kyles’ goal with Hunter had a shot parried by the keeper and thankfully the follow up by Murray was ruled out for offside in the 16th minute.
Then on 18 minutes a driving run from Ghoul played through MacDonald who lifted his shot over the advancing keeper, but thankfully the crossbar and then the linesperson’s flag came to the rescue.
The Fauldhouse pressure was building and MacDonald outmuscled Leadbeatter to play a ball from the touchline to Murray whose turn and shot was blocked. The loose ball saw a shot on goal pushed away by Kyles with Calum Geddes clearing the danger.
On 24 minutes a good ball by Mackenzie Williamson forward found Owen McCallion whose one-touch flick put brother Andrew through on goal but the recovering defender did just enough to prevent the Burgh striker getting his effort away cleanly.
Fauldhouse were taking control of the half and a long-range shot bobbled awkwardly enough in front of Kyles but the Burgh keeper did well to save in the 26th minute.
MacDonald then played Ghoul in with a great chance but Kyles did very well to come out quickly and block the shot from close range with at the striker’s mercy in the 30th minute.
The Burgh equaliser came somewhat against the run of play when Cammy Newsome did well with a shot that was deflected for a corner in the 43rd minute. From Ronnie Martin’s resulting corner, Williamson’s goalbound header appeared to deflect of a defender giving keeper Weatherby no chance.
Andrew McCallion had a good chance from close range at the start of the second half to give Newburgh the lead when a through-ball from Martin split the Fauldhouse defence but once again the defenders did enough to put pressure on McCallion to stop him testing the keeper.
The visitors regained the lead in the 49th minute when a deep ball to the left by Baird found Ghoul. The Fauldhouse skipper got round Geddes and drove on towards goal and fired a powerful shot past Kyles to make it 2-1.
Owen McCallion went on his own driving run after cleverly spinning Okocha but his low shot rolled just past the near post in the 51st minute.
In the 54th minute MacDonald received a low pass on the edge of the Burgh box and turned to shoot with his effort cannoning off the shins of Leadbeatter potentially wrong-footing Kyles who did very well to recover to pounce on the ball.
On 58 minutes Owen McCallion did well to send a dangerous low ball into the six yard box for Andrew McCallion, but with a combination of a bit of luck and close attentions, McCallion’s effort was blocked for a corner.
From the resultant corner from Martin, Williamson rose highest to send a header crashing against the upright and the loose ball was hacked clear.
The visitors were still looking threatening going forward and Kyles again did well to come quickly and block a close-range effort from Murray.
In the 68th minute Leadbeatter picked up the ball from a free kick pumped into the Fauldhouse area before smartly turning his man and playing in Williamson around the penalty spot area, with his back to goal. With no route to goal, he looked for support but his pass to substitute Owen McNally didn’t quite reach its target and the move was lost.
In the closing stages a corner from the left by Martin was headed down by Leadbeatter but the Fauldhouse defence were on hand to hack clear from just in front of goal.
Murray was looking threatening for Fauldhouse and again he worked well in limited space to turn on the edge of the area and get his shot away which sent Kyles flying across his goal but thankfully the shot also just beat the far post too.
The final whistle blew and few could argue that the visitors were thoroughly deserving of the points. They were physically stronger all over the park and the forward players of Murray, MacDonald and Ghoul were causing a number of problems.
Man of the Match: Tam Hampson.
