Newburgh undertook the first of two consecutive long-distance away trips with down to the picturesque Borders town of Innerleithen. Unfortunately for a darkening November afternoon, the outlook didn’t look too bright on a very heavy pitch.

The match itself was far from a classic on a difficult surface, and whilst largely uneventful from a football perspective, it still left plenty of talking points come the full time whistle.

It was a slow start with the first moment of note was the opening goal in the 18th minute, and, to be fair, what a very good moment it was for non-Burgh spectators when Kivlichan picked up a pass about 8 yards outside the Burgh area and turned onto his right foot and unleashed a spectacular looping shot past Duffield.

On 21 minutes Callum Roughead couldn’t get a powerful enough connection on a Rhys Sneddon free kick into the Leithen penalty area to seriously trouble the home keeper.

Kivlichan was posing Burgh problems as he picked up a ball over the defence from Rossi in the 26th minute and flashed a shot across the face of the visitor’s goal.

In the 34th minute Nichita Cotorobai connected well to a headed clearance from another Sneddon free kick from the left, but his effort was blocked by the outstretched leg of a defender.

Kivlichan again was a threat with a rasping free kick from 25-yards out that had Duffield flying across goal to push away in the 39th minute, whilst Nicholson curled a shot from the right wide of the keeper’s goal moments later.

The half ended with a bit of a Burgh flurry of activity as another Sneddon ball into the box fell to Finn Bannerman 12 yards out but a desperate lunge from a defender managed to block the shot. As the first half drew to a close, a quick throw-in from Ryan Daly caught the home defence napping and Bannerman ran off, holding off a challenge to fire a low shot towards the near post that Rodger-Whiteford managed to get down to push away for what should have been a corner.

A double change in the 52nd minute saw Mackenzie Williamson continue his comeback from injury as he came on alongside Finn McLaren. The Big Man made an almost immediate impact with the assist for Burgh’s equaliser as Calum Lownie’s throw was flicked on by Logan Duff for Williamson to flick on again for Blair Campbell to rise and head home inside the near post in the 54th minute for 1-1.

That moment of joy for Burgh was, however, short-lived after right-back Lownie picked up a second yellow card inside 8 minutes and was sent off in the 64th minute. Matters got worse as both Duff and Campbell also picked up yellows before the hosts took the lead again in the 75th minute as Kivlichan latched onto a through ball to beat the Burgh defence and slot past Duffield.

Williamson again showed his presence as his flicked header from a Sneddon throw in landed on the roof of the Leithen net in the 77th minute.

Matters took another damaging turn for the worse with 10 minutes left as Campbell also picked up a second yellow for a challenge in the middle of the park which left a mountain for the visitors to climb and in the end they had to battle to hold on as McGill’s volley tested the palms of Duffield in the 83rd minute, whilst Roughead and Calum Geddes had to come to Burgh’s rescue in the closing moments.

It turned into a bleak afternoon for the Fifer’s with a numerical disadvantage leaving a huge task to overcome for a tiring side on a heavy pitch.

Man of the Match: Callum Roughead.