Vale of Leithen 1 vs 1 Newburgh Juniors

Newburgh made the trip down to the Borders on Tuesday evening for a quick return fixture against Vale of Leithen at the picturesque Victoria Park, Innerleithen.

Logan Duff had Burgh’s first chance of the game in the 8th minute after Calum Robertson, making his first start for the club, laid off for the full back to fire a low shot from just outside the area into the arms of the keeper.

The hosts showed their first serious goal threat in the 20th minute with a good move through the centre of the pitch between Latto and Houten that put Kivlichan through on goal and he fired a low shot across the face of goal and past the far post.

On the half hour mark the next move started from Burgh defending a corner that was cleared with Andrew McCallion leading the attack from just outside his own area and setting Robertson on a powerful run but the Vale defence got back to block the Burgh winger on the edge of their penalty area before he could get his shot away.

Play quickly switched to the other end with McGill putting Houten through with a chance that flew over the bar.

Newburgh got the break through after McCallion won the Fifer’s a penalty as he was bundled over by Dickson after being smartly played through by Owen McNally. The Burgh no.9 made no mistake from the spot sending McLean the wrong way to score.

On the stroke of half time Burgh nearly doubled their lead as Cammy Newsome won possession in his own half and played a long-range one-two with McCallion and continued his charge towards the Vale goal and just stretching to poke the ball past the advancing McLean but just wide of the near post.

The second half got off to a controversial start as Newsome, somewhat surprisingly, picked up a straight red diving in to seemingly block a clearance. The referee thought otherwise and quickly brandished the red card in the 53rd minute.

Whilst the numerical advantage led to the hosts applying pressure towards Scott Kyles’ goal, it was anything but one-way traffic.

Vale did, however, make the break through in the 61st minute when a cross into the Burgh area took a deflection, wrong-footing Kyles. The Burgh keeper managed to get a hand to the ball but, unfortunately, it fell to Kivlichan who stabbed home from close range the equaliser.

In recent years that may have been a call for Burgh to collapse like a pack of cards, but this season’s side are made of a different resilience and, despite being down to 10 men, looked to press for the lead again. What followed what a gripping match with both sides pushing for the winner.

On 69 minutes, Kyles was out quickly to dive at the feet of McGill to collect.

In the final 15 minutes it looked Burgh were the most likely to grab that winner in a nail-biting conclusion. On 77 minutes McCallion slid the ball through to Blair Campbell and his first time shot rolled narrowly past the far post.

On 83 mins the subs of Campbell, Ryan Daly and Kian Beattie combined to win possession in the middle of the park for Beattie to slide a ball through to Andrew McCallion whose shot from about 14 yards out was deflected behind for a corner. From the resultant corner McCallion was on hand at the far post to attempt a volley on the turn which didn’t find the target.

McCallion was desperate to add to his goal tally and with clock ticking towards full time his free kick from the edge of the area, won after Campbell was brought down, whistled just past the post.

The best opportunity came as the clock turned to 90 minutes as Vale keeper McLean was too casual in possession and was robbed by Daly who laid across the area to McCallion who quickly wanted to get his shot away before the keeper recovered or a defender blocked on the line but his shot was narrowly off target.

It was an entertaining game that moved end to end, but Burgh deserve credit for their efforts – particularly after the red card – to get an important point from a difficult match against a good side.

Man of the Match: Logan Duff.