Newburgh welcomed Fauldhouse United to East Shore Park with the visitors back in Fife after a midweek win at leaders Burntisland a few days earlier.

The hosts got off on the front foot straight from kick off as Finn Bannerman laid off a chance for Ryan Daly to fire low into the body of ‘Hoose keeper Meikle.

Returning Nichita Cotorobai also stated his early intentions with a fizzing low drive from outside the area just wide of the far post in the 11th minute.

At the other end, Burgh had Ben Duffield to thank for diving bravely at the feet of Mairs on 19 minutes.

Burgh had a touch of fortune in the 28th minute when Daly’s long throw into the box was flicked on by Callum Roughead and Meikle collided with Bannerman going to punch clear with the Burgh forward feeling the full brunt of the keeper’s challenge and the referee pointed to the spot. There could be a touch of sympathy in the Keeper’s Union as Burgh’s Duffield experienced the same fate in the recent win over Stoneyburn.

Daly was less forgiving from the spot with a perfect penalty into the roof of the net to give Burgh the lead.

In the 43rd minute Bannerman went close to doubling Burgh’s advantage after good play by Cotorobai played in Blair Campbell whose cut back saw Bannerman’s low effort canon off the base of the post.

Burgh did get that second goal on the stroke of half time when Rhys Sneddon’s free kick found its way to Cotorbai at the far side of the area. The wide man cut back inside more centrally and saw his first effort blocked. The rebound fell nicely with the visiting defence seemingly stationary and Nichita fired a drive into the far corner through a crowd of bodies with a calm finish.

Daly did well to cut inside from Bannerman’s pass to fire a curling shot just over the bar at the start of the second half.

The visitors started coming more into the game as the second half progressed looking to get back into the game. Duffield did well to cut out a low effort from Twaddle in the 56th minute. Then the Burgh keeper did well to get his body behind Weir’s effort from a free kick on 64 minutes.

Burgh were also looking to get that important third goal and in the 74th minute Logan Duff couldn’t quite find the target with a header from Sneddon’s free kick from the left.

Campbell was also unlucky with a header in the 79th minute from Daly’s floated cross that found the Burgh skipper with more space than he realised.

Fauldhouse finally did get that goal their pressure was seeking with a corner headed in at the far post by McKee in the 82nd minute.

With their tales up, Fauldhouse managed an equaliser in unfortunate circumstances as Semple took a free kick on the half way line. Instead of floating the ball into the Burgh area, his effort seemed to a more powerful direct effort that deflected off the head of Sneddon and past Duffield. Quite if the Fauldhouse defender intended his ball forward to be quite like that remains open to question, but I’m sure he won’t care as it was 2-2.

The visitors sensed a chance to turn defeat into victory and had two chances deep into stoppage time with Duffield denying Currie at the second attempt, whilst Twaddle fired into the side netting in the 92nd minute.

At the other end, Calum Leadbeatter was hoping to emulate his injury time goal against Luncarty the previous week but Sneddon’s free kick ended up with the big centre-back’s feet instead of his head and he couldn’t quite flick home at the near post.

It was a disappointing end to the game with Burgh looking good for the points until conceding two late goals, including a cruel equaliser, in an otherwise good team performance.

Man of the Match: Logan Duff.