Newburgh got the 2026/27 season off and running with the visit of Harthill Royal to East Shore Park in the new format East of Scotland set up, which saw Divisions 2 and 3 merged, then split on a regional basis with two matches against teams in your area, and then one game – either home or away – against each side in the other region.

There were starting debuts for goalkeeper Ben Duffield and forward Finn McLaren, with Ethan Stark and Lyall Brown on the substitutes’ bench.

Burgh couldn’t have got off to a better start with Ryan Daly opened the scoring in just the 2nd minute. Duffield’s long ball forward caused difficulties in the visiting defence with the ball falling to Daly who took his first touch to control the ball and his second to roll a low shot into the far corner past the keeper.

Daly went one better in the 10th minute when he added his second after more defensive woes in the Harthill defence when a pass out from the back was blocked by Blair Campbell and went to Daly on the left. The Burgh no.7 turned his man and ran inside before unleashing a drive that left keeper Tait rooted to the spot.

Callum Roughead headed a free kick over in the 31st minute before Harthill’s first serious chance in the 39th minute when a header from a corner was again blocked by Campbell, with the rebound also finding the home defence back in numbers to deflect the follow-up wide.

The visitor’s had another couple of chances in first half stoppage time with Brass driving a low shot wide of the near post from a free kick, and then Carmichael having an effort deflected behind by Roughead.

Things got better as Burgh extended their lead in the 47th minute following a slick move started in midfield between Daly, Bannerman, Campbell and McLaren before the new boy slid a return ball to Daly to run to the byline and cut back for Bannerman to score and make it 3-0.

The hosts looked to add to their tally with Bannerman and Nichita Cotorobai both going close after well-worked moves. Bannerman then had a good chance in the 57th minute from a corner which was deflected onto the post by a defender’s leg before being on hand to get to the rebound quickest but his effort went just wide.

Next came a swift reminder to not settle on any scoreline and take your chances as Harthill changed the complexion of the game with two goals inside a 6 minute spell.

A Carmichael corner from the right was headed across goal and fell to Core inside the six-yard box to rifle home past Duffield to make it 3-1 on 59 minutes.

3-1 quickly turned to 3-2 when a free kick from the left fell to Johnston whose shot was blocked by Duffield but bounced to Roberts to poke home the loose ball in the 64th minute.

Harthill nearly completed an unexpected comeback straight from the restart when a lofted ball forward was flicked on by Brass to Carmichael whose first time effort fizzed, thankfully, just over Duffield’s crossbar.

Duffield did well to race out and narrow the angle on Johnston’s low shot in the 71st minute and then blocked Brass’ powerful low shot with his feet on 77 minutes.

Sub Stark then was unlucky in the 84th minute after Rhys Sneddon’s lofted ball forward brought Harthill keeper Tait outside his area and was quickly chased down by Calum Robertson, with the hurried clearance falling to Stark midway with his long range strike not quite finding the target with the goal exposed.

Newburgh held out to record maximum points on the opening day with an encouraging display from the team. Ryan Daly narrowly picked up the Committee Man of the Match award with 2 goals and an assist, with defender Rhys Sneddon running him close for the award with an excellent performance at left back and a great performance from Blair Campbell in midfield also a standout and a strong debut from Ben Duffield in goal.

Man of the Match: Ryan Daly.