Newburgh were back for match 2 of 3 home games at East Shore Park, but once again it was a match strongly influenced by very blustery wind conditions.

It was the visitors, however, who made the most of the conditions to leave with the points back over the Border.

In the 8th minute Tweedmouth fired their first warning shot across the bows when McNaughton stole possession in the middle of the park to unleash a rasping shot just wide of Scott Kyles’ post.

Then this was followed up in the 10th minute as Woodcock took advantage of the strong wind blowing towards the Burgh goal as his free kick from near the corner flag deceived everyone and curled directly in off the far post.

On 18 minutes Tweedmouth doubled their lead when a hooked ball forward was miscontrolled by the Burgh defence and Clark slipped the ball through to Woodcock who slotted beyond Kyles for 2-0.

Burgh’s first serious effort of note came in the 28th minute when Rhys Sneddon’s free kick from distance posed little trouble for keeper Dunn.

In the 32nd minute Ryan Daly latched onto a stray pass in the Tweedmouth defence to run on towards goal, but he was quickly surrounded by defenders and his shot was charged down by a defender.

Early into the second half, manager Andy Healy made a couple of changes introducing Kyle Tracey and Nichita Cotorobai. It was these two players that then looked likely to pose the most goal threat and within minutes Blair Campbell’s pass forward found Tracey on the edge of the area and his turn and side foot went just wide of the post.

Burgh looked to have a route back into the game as they pulled a goal back on 58 minutes as Owen McCallion’s defensive free kick found Tracey who laid back to Kian Beattie, who deftly played a ball over the head of the advancing Tweedmouth defence to find Daly. Daly’s low ball across the face of goal found Tracey on hand to tap home.

The hosts then had the opportunity to level the game in the 65th minute as McCallion’s ball over the Tweedmouth defence set Cotorobai through on the right side of the area before the Burgh sub was clipped by the keeper whilst trying to take the ball past him and the referee pointed to the spot.

Cotorobai picked himself up to take the kick in the absence of usual taker Andrew McCallion, but it was the woodwork that spared the visitors as Nichita’s effort rattled the bar.

The Burgh sub would appear to make something of a crossbar-challenge specialist as on 70 minutes he hit an excellent dipping shot from outside the area that beat Dunn and again crashed against the bar.

Tweedmouth made Burgh pay for their missed chances when they killed the game off in the 77th minute when a free kick on the corner of the Newburgh penalty area was floated in and found Heath in space to poke home from close range.

The home side tried in vain to get back into the game, but the only real chance came in the 86th minute when Logan Duff’s corner found Calum Leadbeatter who powered a header goalwards which could only be parried by Dunn and fell to Tracey who couldn’t find his feet quickly enough and his instinctive foot out from close range couldn’t find the target.

It was a disappointing result for Burgh and a performance that didn’t reach the highs we’ve come to expect. But whilst it’s a tough loss, it isn’t massively damaging at this stage if the team can pick themselves up and make the upcoming games in hand count – starting with the difficult task of 3rd placed Livingston United who are next in town on Saturday.

Man of the Match: Owen McCallion – a typically hard-working, no-nonsense display with a good attitude despite of being called to cover in an unorthodox position in the second half.