Newburgh welcomed newly-promoted Stoneyburn to East Shore Park this evening, hoping to pick up the point they needed to join them in the celebrations.

It was the home side that started on the front foot and in the 4th minute, Andrew McCallion laid off a ball to Finn Bannerman on the edge of the visitors’ penalty area to fire a shot just over the bar.

Meanwhile The Fulshie showed their potential when Brash weaved some space in the Burgh box to test Scott Kyles’ handling minutes later.

The goal action wasn’t letting up and in the 7th minute Trialist ran down the left and cut inside before powering a shot towards the near post that Stoneyburn keeper Sneddon flung himself to his right to push over.

On 12 minutes Bannerman was close again but he wasn’t quite able to get a clean connection thanks to the close presence of O’Hara. In the 18th minute Blair Campbell picked up a loose touch on the edge of the Stoneyburn area to send a low shot that wrong-footed Sneddon but just beat the far post.

Stoneyburn nearly took the lead in the 24th minute with a bit of Route One football as Sneddon’s huge kick forward put Sweeney behind the Burgh defence but his low shot rolled just wide of the target.

On 41 minutes Shand picked up a return ball from a corner off the left to evade a Burgh tackle about 20 yards out to rasp a shot just over Kyles’ crossbar.

The first goal came in the 51st minute when Shand’s ball split the Burgh defence and sent Mackay through on goal and the Burgh nemesis of recent games took his time to slot past Kyles to score.

Blair Campbell had Burgh’s next chance in the 68th minute with a move he started and finished as he won possession and played a ball to Ryan Heatherill on the left wing. The Burgh sub cut in to send over a cross towards McCallion, but the defender’s touch fell to Campbell, continuing his run into the area, but the first time touch from the Burgh number 8 flew into the side netting.

Both sides were still looking at scoring in the closing stages, and Burgh failed to clear the danger and Sweeney won the ball in the Newburgh penalty area and fire a low shot that Kyles got down well to push away.

On thing we’ve learned this season is that this Burgh side keep going until the end and a goal is always possible. With 88 minutes on the clock, Kian Beattie hooked a ball forward from the middle of the park for McCallion to run in behind the Stoneyburn defence. With space running out he cut back to Campbell, who laid off back to McCallion from a tight angle for the Burgh striker to send a shot past the keeper, off the far post and into the net for the equaliser.

But there was to be a sting in the tail in the 90th minute after a spell of head tennis in the Burgh half, the ball was played back into the box by Arthur with the ball finding its way to Mackay who rifled a low shot past Kyles for the winner.

It was a cruel blow for Burgh that meant the chase for the missing point moves onto the next game, and another difficult encounter against Edinburgh United.

Man of the Match: Andrew McCallion.