East Region South Division
Saturday 16th February 2008
Haddington Athletic 0

Blackburn United 2
Lynch 84mins, A.Brown 86mins
A third trip to East Lothian in as many games brought United to third top Haddington Athletic still missing centre half and last season's Player of the Year Sean Brogan and without the injured Martin Stewart from the previous weeks narrow cup defeat at Dunbar. Derek Drummond, Ryan Docherty and Peter Lynch also dropped down to the bench for this important league game. The opening exchanges were pretty tame and reflected the need not to give anything away too early, Andy Flanagan having a pop from some twenty yards that was comfortably held by the home 'keeper and a deflected Richardson shot causing Francis Carlin little trouble in the United goal. From a Steph McCardie corner out on the right Davie Sneddon then half hit a shot past from around the penalty spot. The home side, too, were struggling to carve out any worthwhile opportunities and when a Rusin corner broke out to Motion his half volley from nearly thirty yards sailed well over the top as he was closed down by Andy McQuillan. Richardson then found a little more room and time out on the Athletic right than he had been afforded previously and he managed to force the ball through to Slight but his control let him down and by the time he could get the ball to behave he could only spin and lash his shot past. Five minutes from the break McCardie took advantage of some good fortune to trick his way past Richardson and Sanders but as he approached the left hand corner of the eighteen yard box he didn't catch his shot at all well and Hill gathered comfortably. A vociferous hand ball claim was then brushed aside as an Alan Brown cross from the right was bundled past the post by Greenaway for a corner that allowed McCardie to swap passes with Peter Lynch and set up Sneddon for a hitch kick that squeezed past the right hand post.

United opened the second half in a much livelier fashion and almost straight away had the Haddington defence in a pickle and when Lynch nicked a Murray pass and put in McQuillan on the left his pull back for the arriving Alan Brown let the supporting midfielder curl and effort in on goal that deflected just past, again amid claims of hand ball. Brown then turned creator as he sent Lynch scurrying to the bye line beyond Sanders to clip in a cross that McQuillan got his head to but couldn't direct past Hill. Ninety seconds later Rab Brown took a turn to send Lynch off on a run down the right and past Gilmour but when he pulled the ball back to the feet of the unmarked Alan Brown he side footed his first time effort past the left hand upright from around sixteen yards. As the accelerated pace of the game continued Athletic put together a flowing move that saw Slight and Gilmour link to provide Murray with a chance on goal but from some space twelve yards out he could only loop the ball into Carlin's hands. A mistake on the hour mark then offered the Millfield outfit a real opportunity to open the scoring, Spence leaving a long ball forward to Carlin after the 'keeper had shouted for it only to see Slight nip in between them and round Carlin before pulling his shot across the face of goal and past from an ever tightening angle. Bowmaker then broke a Sneddon tackle to rap in a shot that Carlin saved at full stretch. With Haddington gaining the ascendancy for a moment substitute Finlayson then saw a shot charged down by Sneddon and, a minute or two later, Rusin's effort from distance took a wicked deflection off Murray's chest and rattled the United bar with Carlin wrong footed before Finlayson tried a diving header that sneaked past. However, when Gibson only just nicked the ball from Lynch as the striker raced onto a Ryan Docherty through ball it was a reminder of his pace that the home back line didn't heed and, six minutes from time, LYNCH was through again on a perfectly weighted Alan Brown pass and, from a suspiciously offside position, he carried on to round Hill and roll the ball into the empty net. A minute later Malone was careless with a pass that Ryan Docherty was onto in a flash but his ripping drive from the edge of the area was touched past by a diving Hill. However, a second United goal arrived very shortly thereafter, A Drummond corner being bulleted past Hill on his near post by the head of Alan BROWN for Blackburn to confirm their sixth successive league victory.

Blackburn United Line-up: Carlin, R.Brown (Drummond 62), Sneddon, C.Spence, Graham, Fowler, Flanagan, A.Brown, L.Docherty (Lynch 37), McQuillan (R.Docherty 65), McCardie Sub (not used): Polwart

Haddington Athletic Line-up: Hill, Sanders, Gilmour, Greenaway, Gibson, Motion, Richardson, Murray, Bowmaker, Rusin, Slight Subs: Reilly, Myles, Moffat, Finlayson, Malone

Referee: Mr. Simon MacLean

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