Match date: 8th of October Kickoff: 14.30 pm
Dunbar United 2 Lochore Welfare FC 1
Third placed Dunbar United played Fife based Lochore Welfare on Saturday for only the sixth ever time, but this was the first ever League match between the sides with the other games being cup ties.
The visitors were looking to bounce back from a heavy defeat at Newtongrange Star last weekend, whilst once again the home side were hindered by unavailability of several players and the management were forced to change a winning team.
Both sides took time to settle with the swirling wind causing problems but Dunbar went close in the tenth minute after Darren Handling’s cross was headed wide by Bob Berry.
The deadlock was broken four minutes later when Darren Handling played in Liam Gregory and the Dunbar based youngster beat the advancing keeper to the ball and rolled the ball into the empty net giving Dunbar an early lead.
Nine minutes later and Gregory headed another Handling cross over the bar with the Lochore defence beaten before the same player almost repeated a carbon copy of his opening goal but this time the keeper just reacted the quickest and saved at his feet.
Lochore had their first shot at goal on the half hour mark but the ball sailed high over the bar before Darren Handling was adjudged to have been offside with the goal at his mercy.
A bit of controversy soon afterwards when Willis Hare fouled Lochore’s Joe Kirby with the referee positioning the ball on the edge of the box when the visitors felt the infringement was actually in the penalty area but the resultant free kick came to nothing.
Just before the break Cammy Dawson went on a marauding run down the right and his low shot was cleared by the Lochore keeper’s legs before the half time whistle sounded with Dunbar deservedly leading by the only goal.
Four minutes after the restart the visitors equalised after a clearance from Dunbar’s keeper Sean Brennan blew back towards him in the strong wind and a quick diagonal pass found Logan Donaldson lurking at the back post where he fired a low shot into the bottom corner to level the scores.
Cammy Dawson headed a Bob Berry cross over the bar as Dunbar threatened and another low cross from Berry was saved well by the Lochore keeper before Dunbar changed things around and introduced some fresh legs.
Dawson again went close on two occasions before young Gregor Goldie was played in by Dean Whitson but the experienced visiting keeper forced the youngster wide. With Dunbar dominating, James Redpath had a free kick on the edge of the box blocked and then parried away by the Welfare keeper.
Eight minutes from time a Willis Hare long throw in was flicked on by Cammy Dawson into the danger area and Gregor Goldie reacted first to the loose ball and swivelled round on the penalty spot and fired low into the net through a ruck of players for his first ever Senior goal at the age of 17 and send the home side into a slender 2-1 lead.
Right on the final whistle Bradley Grieve fired a free kick wide of the target for Lochore before the referee ended the game with Dunbar securing all three points and with other results going their way Dunbar moved up to once again head the League table with another 21 games to play.
Not the greatest performance from Dunbar but it is results that matter and certainly a day to remember for Gregor Goldie who played and scored for Dunbar United Under 20s team on Friday night at Leith then came on as a substitute for the Senior team and scored the winning goal on Saturday and will certainly rank as one of the youngest scorers in the history of the club.
With a clear pathway now available for any emerging Dunbar youngsters the future looks bright for the club and hopefully the club can continue their winning ways on Saturday with a cup tie against neighbours Preston Athletic at New Countess Park with kick-off again at 2.30 pm. Tickets are available now on the club’s Fanbase app.
Dunbar United :- Sean rennan, Michael McFarlane, Grant Thomson, Bob Berry, Cammy Dawson, Darren Handling, Liam Gregory, Willis Hare, Shaun Miller, Darren Smith, Dean Whitson.
Substitutes :- Shea Dowie, James Redpath, Daniel Hall, Fraser Neave, Gregor Goldie, Aaron Congalton.
Lochore Welfare :- Dale Wotherspoon, Sean Cusik, Scott Renton, Matthew Christie, Robbie Crawford, Bradley Grieve, Logan Donaldson, Scott Small, Lewis Thomson, Lewis Morton, Joseph Kirby.
Substitutes :- Peter Thomson, Joe Dawson, Callum Murray, Aaron Wood, Ethan Anderson, Scott Warrender, Jed Crowe.
Referee :- Evan Cairns.
Match report courtesy of Laurie Wood.
Photos by Gordon Maitland.
Mon the Seasiders!