Match date: 31st August 2021 Kickoff: 7.30 pm
After the glamour of a Scottish Cup win at the weekend, it was back to the bread and butter of a League match for Dunbar United on Tuesday night when Tynecastle FC made their first ever visit to New Countess Park. Valuable League points were on offer with Tynecastle sitting in sixth position and two points more than their hosts.
A calm, still night, made conditions ideal for football and the visitors tested the Dunbar keeper in the first minute with a shot from the left. Dunbar settled and took the lead in the fifth minute after Dan Purves found Jamie Devlin on the edge of the box and he carried on his goalscoring form from the weekend curling a beauty into the bottom corner of the net.
Two minutes later and Dan Purves went close himself from 18 yards with the ball drifting inches wide with the Tynecastle defence static. Dunbar were dominant and were unlucky not to increase their lead in the 13th minute when Darren Handling’s cross was headed goalwards by Jamie Devlin only to see it strike the face of a Tynecastle player who knew nothing about it.
A mad two minutes then followed for Dunbar’s Grant Thomson, when somehow he ended up heading a Tynecastle free kick into his own net for a Tynecastle equaliser.
Both sides pushed on looking for the breakthrough with Taylor Hendry forcing the Dunbar keeper into a save and Jamie Devlin testing the Tynecastle custodier at the other end.
On the half hour mark Andy Jones cross was headed back across goal by Jamie Devlin at full stretch only to see it hit the top of the crossbar with the keeper beaten and nine minutes later the same player somehow managed to get on the end of a Grant Thomson cross and his volley was superbly turned onto the post by the Tynecastle keeper to deny Devlin a goal.
With Dunbar dictating, they were denied a penalty kick four minutes before the break which can only be described as bad refereeing with Darren Handling through on goal and ready to shoot when he was upended well inside the box by two chasing defenders. The referee surprisingly waved play on and both sides went in level at the break.
Tynecastle moved the ball about well after the restart and began to take control but although they had a lot of possession the Dunbar defence was well organised and denied them any clearcut chances.
With eleven minutes left Evan Fleming sent over a teasing cross from the left which was just missed by Dunbar’s substitute Johnny Edmond and minutes later an Andy Jones cross was headed on by Michael Fairnie only to see his header cleared of the line as Dunbar pushed for a winner.
The Dunbar pressure eventually paid of three minutes from time when Andy Jones skipped past his defender on the left and fired a cross to the front post where Jamie Devlin smashed the ball into the net despite the close attention of a Tynecastle defender for his fourth goal in two games.
Dunbar played out the final few minutes to seal a very close match and earn three vital League points which moves them up into sixth position. The hosts did well to ground out a victory against a stubborn Tynecastle side who will be disappointed that they did not earn something from the game.
Another hard League game for Dunbar on Saturday when they travel to Rosewell to play Whitehill Welfare who are looking to improve on their poor start to the season with kick off at 2.30pm. Tickets for this game are on sale via their Fanbase app:.
Dunbar United :- Daniel Laing, Grant Thomson, Michael McFarlane, Nicky Weir, Evan Fleming, Darren Smith, Darren Handling, Bob Berry, Andy Jones, Jamie Devlin, Dan Purves.
Substitutes :- John Johnstone, Scott Hay, Johnny Edmond, Michael Fairnie, Kieran Ingram, Fraser McLaren.
Tynecastle FC :- Kyle Leiper, Dale Pennycuik, Fletcher Hendry, Kenny Fisher, Luke Kennedy, Aaron Ponton, Taylor Hendry, Ryan Cameron, Scott Jardine, Blake Wales, Dominic Savage.
Substitutes :- Jamie Rae, Elijah Anukam, Jonathan Steel, Daniel Daya, Calum Todd.
Referee :- Colin Whyte.
Assistant Referees :- Sean Duff, Niamh Westwood.
Match report courtesy of Laurie Wood.
Photos by Gordon Maitland.
