On Saturday Newburgh welcomed more Fife neighbours in the second instalment of a trilogy of local derbies, with two against higher level opponents and concluding on Sunday with an away trip in the League.

Thornton Hibs were the visitors to East Shore Park, riding high in fourth place in the First Division. As it transpired, it was to be a very close contest with few goal mouth opportunities as the midfields battled for possession.

The first of those chances came in the 3rd minute with Rhys Sneddon’s ball over the heads of the Hibs defence for Andrew McCallion, playing against his former side, to run on to but his shot was blocked by a recovering defender and went behind for a corner.

Meanwhile in the 16th minute Kinninmonth’s free kick had Sean Martin scurrying across goal but the ball flew past the near post. On 25 minutes it was Burgh’s new loanee, Ryan Heatherill, returning to the club from Dundonald, who had a similar chance at goal which saw Jarrett push over the bar.

Just before the half time break, Heatherill and Kyle Tracey combined well on the right before a chance presented itself to Finn Bannerman about 12 yards from goal. But with bodies all around him, his low shot was pushed away by Jarrett in the Hibs goal.

As the second half got under way, Blair Campbell did well to play Ryan Daly towards goal. The Burgh number 7 cut back inside but his tame effort didn’t trouble the Thornton goal.

On the hour mark Man of the Match Callum Roughead’s long throw into the Hibs area was flicked on by a defender, but Heatherill couldn’t get his head over the ball enough to give enough power to beat Jarrett.

In the 62nd minute Sean Martin had to race out quickly from his goal to block a shot chance from Kinninmonth after a slick Thornton move set up the striker in on goal, but the alert keeping from Martin kept the visitors at bay.

Thornton were shading the few main chances in the game now and Roughead did well to take the sting off Bennett’s strike from the edge of the area and Martin finished it off pushing the shot around for a corner in the 74th minute.

On 85 minutes the fresh energy and persistence of Kieran Twaddell was put through by a good pass by Kian Beattie, but the striker’s first touch was a bit too strong and gave Jarrett a chance to get his body ahead of the Burgh man.

Twaddell vs Jarrett had another duel in the 89th minute when Owen McCallion picked up a stray pass back to his own defence by Kinninmonth and floated a ball into the penalty area which saw Jarrett fractionally ahead of the Burgh striker as they collided in mid-air going for the same ball.

With the tie seemingly looking like heading to penalties, heartache followed deep into injury time as Burgh’s defence, for the first time in the afternoon, didn’t clear the danger and Cunningham swept home from 12 yards out to snatch an unlikely-looking winner in the 92nd minute.

Burgh were despondent and Martin did excellently to race out and deny Bennett’s shot at goal as the seconds ticked away.

As the hosts tired in the closing seconds, a ball from the left touchline was poked home by McMillan in the 94th minute to seal the win for the First Division side.

It wasn’t a classic game, by any means, and there were little in the way of shots on goal from both sides, but it was heart-breaking for Burgh’s hard-work to be shattered with two late, injury time goals. But it was a strong performance from the boys and one they need to take a lot of heart and credit from.

The League is what matters now, and what better opportunity is Sunday’s Ground-hopper Day match away at another Fife neighbour Cowdenbeath Central. With two entertaining matches between the sides already this season, and a sure-to-be bumper crowd (as was the festive match at East Shore), it promises to be a very exciting game between two good sides chasing promotion.

Man of the Match: Callum Roughead – a rock amongst other rocks in the Burgh defence.