It turned out to be an afternoon to forget for Newburgh, with the defence in particular still experiencing nightmares that they will hopefully learn from and come back stronger.

The warning signs were there as early as the 4th minute as the visitors couldn’t clear the danger and Davies’ cross was met at the second bite of the cherry by Johnston whose shot had Duffield diving to his left to save.

It could have been different, however, if Ryan Daly’s driving run and shot had managed to completely deceive Luncarty keeper Simpson as it seemed to get caught in the wind. With the keeper back tracking, he managed to get his fingertips to it to push the ball upwards and as he fell backwards into his own goal somehow managed to claw the ball off the line. The Burgh forwards were slow to react and the ball was hacked clear in the 15th minute.

This sparked the home side into life and they took the lead in the 19th minute when Smart glanced a header into the far corner after a cross from the left.

Duffield was in for a busy afternoon and on 24 minutes he threw himself to tip over a header from Johnston after a sweeping cross from the right.

Burgh’s task became much harder two minutes later when a under-hit backpass set Davies through on goal to round Duffield and slot home for 2-0.

Two very quickly became three as Yates long range shot was parried by Duffield and fell to Davies who turned the ball across goal for Johnston to stab home.

Burgh again committed defensive suicide in the 35th minute when trying to play out from the back and poor control saw Davies then manage to evade Beattie’s tackle and roll home into the far corner past the keeper.

Burgh were desperately hoping for the half time whistle but Duffield was required to pull off a double save on 44 minutes from Hutchison’s drive and then recovering quickly to block Smart’s follow up.

The half time break did little to improve matters, however, as within moments the hosts had netted their fifth from the penalty spot after Cammy Newsome was harshly adjudged to have fouled Davies in the box. The Luncarty number 10 stepped up from the spot to complete his hat-trick.

Burgh reduced the deficit on 50 minutes after Blair Campbell and Newsome won possession in the middle of the park. Newsome drove forward and slid a ball through to Daly to run on and slot past keeper Simpson to make it 5-1.

Moments later Finn Bannerman and Lyall Brown exchanged a one-two for the Burgh sub, Bannerman, to fire a low shot that was blocked by the feet of Simpson.

Duffield’s afternoon was about to get even busy with a flurry of important stops, particularly an excellent point blank save from 6 yards out and then recovering quickly to block a second effort on 59 minutes.

Luncarty were again gifted too much space and time on 64 minutes from a long throw into the box allowing Proudfoot to pick up the ball near the goal line to lay back for Johnston to fire a low shot that was pushed away well by Duffield. A brief scramble followed and Calum Robertson threw himself at a goal bound shot to deflect behind for a corner.

The Burgh keeper’s workload wasn’t easing and he managed to get his body and hands behind a powerful Smart shot. The visitors still couldn’t clear the danger and the ball fell to Hutchison whose volley was straight into the gloves of the grateful keeper.

The scoring was complete in the 68th minute when a floating free kick into the box by Clarke was again not cleared properly and fell to Proudfoot who had acres of space to pick his spot past Duffield from 8 yards out.

The keeper certainly had earned his corn and still had one more save in his locker as he threw himself down low to push around Proudfoot’s effort, again in so much space in the box, in the 85th minute.

It was a bitterly disappointing afternoon for all at the club in a poor performance with far too many mistakes which were readily punished by a ruthless Luncarty side.

Man of the Match: Ben Duffield – there was only one candidate with a number of crucial saves preventing a complete rout.