Recap

East of Scotland Premier League – Saturday 22nd January 2022

Hill of Beath Hawthorn 1 (Connolly 42)
Blackburn United 1 (Garrad 69)

It was Callum Heath who carved out the first real chance of the game on 25 minutes when he danced past several challenges before firing just over from 20 yards. Then there were claims for a penalty three minutes later when Richie Hutton moved into the left hand side of the box, crossed into the middle and Garrad ended up on the decj claiming to have been bundled over, but the referee waved away the claims.

Garrad then had a shot beaten away by Hall in the Hill of Beath goal before at the other end the homesters couldn’t believe their luck when from a free kick, Saunders spilled the ball and Connolly gleefully stabbed the ball into the net to open the scoring just before the end of the half.

Seven minutes into the second there were even stronger claims for a penalty to Blackburn when a Danny Campbell cross from the right clearly struck the outstretched hand of a defender, but the claims were once again waved away.

The equaliser came on 69 minutes when a Campbell through ball was blocked but it fell to Calum Heath, he made his was to the byeline and crossed for Jack Garrad to fire the ball beyond Hall from close range.

A few minutes later Campbell collected a Laurie Devine cross, turned but shot just wide. In the last minute a ball caught out the Blackburn defence and as Lewis Elder bore down on goal , Michael Browne’s tackle took him down and he was flashed the red card.

Hill of Beath: Stuart Hall, Shaun Leishman, Russell Grierson, Jake Mitchell, Mark Forbes, Jon Galloway (Brandon Luke 79), Calum Adamson (Ross Allum 65), Ryan Connolly, Daniel Watt, Lewis Elder (Ross Maclachlan 79), Lyle Kellichan. Unused subs: Michel Watt, Paul Quinn, Lee Wilson, James Donaldson.

Blackburn United: Craig Saunders, Fergus Owens, John Drummond, James Mildren (Laurie Devine 63), Marcus Millar, Dominic Kane (Lyall Cameron 80), Calum Heath, Michael Brown, Danny Campbell, Jack Garrad, Richie Hutton. Unused subs: Kyle McClung, Baley Ferris, Jack Sayers, Gavin King.

Referee: Andy Gamble Assistants: Ellis Walls, Derryn Brogan