Recap

East of Scotland Premier League – Saturday 4th December 2021

Blackburn United 2 (Browne 1p, Heath 33)
Newtongrange Star 4 (Smith 39, McIntosh 53 & 54, Dougal 79)

In a remarkable start Burnie were awarded a penalty after only 15 seconds when Danny Campbell latched onto the ball in the box from kick-off and was brought down, Michael Browne dispatched the penalty with 50 seconds on the clock.

It was a frantic start as both sides were attacking at will, however the game settled and Nitten started to get a foothold and push for the equaliser with 22 and 11 have efforts, however Burnie increased their lead on 33 minutes when Callum Heath collected a throw in, turned his marker and guided his shot beyond Sean Brennan into the far corner.

Star pulled one back 6 minutes later when a ball into the back post was headed back across goal by Chris Robertson and Liall Smith headed past King from close range.

The visitors started the second half quicky looking for the equaliser with 17 & 12 going close, up the other end Danny Campbell hooked a Jack Sayers cross just wide and Kane had a shot comfortable saved.

However in the space of a minute the game was turned on its head when first, the referee pointed to the spot in what looked a dubious call by his assistant Mr.Richmond for a push in the box after the ball had been comfortably gathered by King. Liam McIntosh converted. Blackburn were rattled by this decision and a minute later it was McIntosh again pouncing to give Nitten the lead.

Things went from bad to worse on the hour mark when John Drummond was penalised for a foul that to all present should have been given the other way, he was booked and then booked a second time for dissent and sent packing by the Craig Wilson the referee. Gavin King tipped the resulting free kick onto the bar.

Ten became nine with 15 minutes left when a Star player looked to have handled but the appeals were waved away and Daryll Meikle was shown a straight red for taking his complaints too far in the eyes of Mr.Wilson. With around 10 minutes remaining Nitten increased their lead against the nine men through Ethan Dougal.

Blackburn United: Gavin King, Jack Sayers, Marcus Millar, Lyall Cameron, John Drummond, Dominic Kane (David Howe 60), Callum Heath, Daryll Meikle, Danny Campbell, Michael Browne, Richie Hutton (L.Devine 87). Unused subs: Andy McQuillan, James Mildren, Kyle McClung, Joe Osbourne, Criag Saunders.

Newtongrange Star: Sean Brennan, Alexander Webb, Liam Peden, Adam Nelson (Steven Tait 73), Liam McIntosh (Ethan Dougal 76), Ryan Porteous (Jack Gillan 30), Alistair Forster, Ben Finnan, Chris Robertson (Shaun Conlon 73), Liall Smith, Michael Jones (Steven Froude 73). Unused subs: Ryan Ferguson, Andrew Muir.

Referee: Craig Wilson Assistants: Josh Heggie, Tim Richmond.