Current Season's Reports
Whitburn lose 2-1 in final league game
After the euphoria of Wednesday’s win to seal an historic third promotion in a row (a feat only ever achieved by Gretna it seems) it was back down to earth with a bump with the defeat by Newtongrange. However, with the League Cup quarter final against Preston on Tuesday to look forward to, Darren Wilson chose to give many of the regulars a rest with five under 20 players featuring during the game. The first half was a bit of a damp squib for the home side and Newtongrange forced three saves from Sean Brown before Whitburn got a sniff of goal. This came in the 16th minute when Euan McGill got into the six yard box but hit his shot over. Whitburn having weathered the early storm had three decent chances late on. First, on 33 minutes Jack Hodge fired in a deep free kick which Darren Liddell headed over at the back post. Six minutes later McGill chased a Hodge ball to the byeline and got a good cross in but Liddell’s goal bound header was saved. Almost on the half Mick McGarahan and Owen Main combined well to give the former a shot from a tight angle but it struck the post.
The second half started of brightly for the home side with three more good chances in the first five minutes. With a minute gone a wide right Hodge cross was headed by Liddell and eventually fell to Stevie Clark who forced a save at the back post. Two minutes later a Brown clearance was knocked on by Andy Thomson wide where Liddell rushed in on goal but his shot came off the upright with keeper Aaron Hamilton beaten. The final chance just after saw Clark chase a long ball and pass to McGill but he shot wide. In the 54th minute against, at that point, the run of play Nitten took the lead when a cross from the right found McGarahan under pressure from two opponents and the ball trundled into the net. The lead would last three minutes as a good through ball put in Hodge and he calmly fired into the goal. Both teams made numerous substitutions and one, u20 player Callum Byrne almost scored with a great shot which Hamilton dived to push round the post. Then, just as the game seemed to be heading to a draw in the 86th minute Declan Henry had two shots at the goal, the first of which was saved but the second, after Whitburn failed to clear, beat Brown to allow Newtongrange to do the double over us.
