Newburgh travelled back to West Lothian looking for the same sort of outcome as that came from the visit to Livingston a fortnight earlier.

Unfortunately those hopes came juddering to a halt early on as promotion chasing Stoneyburn laid down their intentions early on as Mackay thundered home a header from a corner inside 2 minutes to give the hosts the lead.

Mackay was to continue to prove a headache for the Newburgh defence throughout the game and moments later a long throw from McKee was met again by the head of the Stoneyburn no.10 but thankfully it didn’t trouble keeper Scott Kyles too much.

Burgh’s first half chances were limited and, in the main, restricted to live-wire Andy McCallion. In the 5th minute he did well to turn and get a close range shot away that was blocked by a defender.

Stoneyburn continued their threat by increasing the lead in just the 10th minute when McKee supplied the cross for Sweeney to stoop and head home unmarked from just inside the six yard box.

Moments later a good move from Newburgh involving Andy McCallion, Logan Whyte and Owen McNally set up a half chance from the edge of the area but McKenna saved McCallion’s shot from the edge of the area.

Things went from bad to worse on the half hour mark when the Fulshie’s aerial threat again was the visitor’s undoing with another pinpoint cross from the right evading the heads of the Burgh defence and into the path of Mackay to head home from close range to make it 3-0.

The game was looking a tall (pun deliberate) order for Newburgh now and Williamson’s header was next to test Kyles in the 34th minute.

Burgh were given a lifeline on 41 minutes with a good move that started at the heart of defence between Kian Beattie and Calum Leadbeatter with the latter playing a ball forward to Andy McCallion who turned his man and drove into the Stoneyburn penalty area before being brought down between two defenders.

The Burgh no.9 dusted himself down to send McKenna the wrong way from the spot and hopefully give Burgh the incentive and motivation for a second half battle.

The second half Newburgh saw a marked improvement as they sort to get themselves back into the game.

Within minutes Owen McCallion sent over an effort from the right that floated just over the bar. Then on 55 minutes great determination between Owen McCallion and Whyte just inside the Fulshie penalty area kept possession well before laying off to McNally whose goalbound effort was blocked.

The Burgh comeback was gaining momentum and the gritty determination was epitomised with the second goal on 64 minutes when Rhys Sneddon’s free kick into the box was met by the head of substitute Tam Hampson under the challenge of the keeper. Hampson’s header fell for Whyte to send a header goalbound over the defender chasing back under pressure from Andy McCallion and looping into the net.

Full credit to Burgh at this stage as they sensed a great chance to get back on level terms and Kian Beattie forced McKenna into a save in the 66th minute.

It wasn’t all Burgh, though, and Hampson had to rescue his side with a header off the line two minutes later.

Whilst there was initially a debate over whether the second goal was his or Whyte’s, the Burgh striker was eager to ensure he was getting himself on the scoresheet again and his good strike on 71 minutes was deflected for a corner.

That Newburgh equaliser did come, however, and was a superb effort which maybe wasn’t one for the football purists but was certainly a great goal all the same. Hampson launched a route-one ball forward from the edge of his own area which evaded the head of the Stoneyburn defence as it headed into the Fulshie penalty area with Andy McCallion running on the end of it to some how direct a difficult looking header looping over the back tracking McKenna and into the net to make it 3-3. It was an extremely difficult ball to get on the end of, let alone having the neck muscles to turn and direct it goalwards but it was a worthy strike to get Burgh back from three goals down.

It looked for a spell that Burgh were capable of going on to claim all three points in the closing stages before succumbing to a momentary, and ultimately, costly lapse in concentration three minutes from time as a free kick just outside the penalty area but nearest the corner flag was played short to the incoming, and undetected, Duncan who ran onto drill a low effort past Kyles.

Then in the 89th minute Mackay muscled his way into possession of the ball and played it to the right for Murdoch to send over another deep cross to the back post for Mackay to loop another header across goal past Kyles to complete his hat-trick.

It was a heart-breaking end for Burgh after such a brave fightback against a strong Stoneyburn side. Whilst it was a disappointing end, there were still plenty of positives with a lot of character and spirit.

Man of the Match: Andy McCallion – an enormous amount of work and running that was rewarded with a penalty and an impressive header from a difficult position.