BURNIE BLAST PAST THE ROYALS
Burnie hit six as they put rivals to the sword
Harthill Royal ......... 2 Whitburn ................ 6 Whitburn eased through to the East of Scotland Cup third round after a convincing derby victory away to Harthill Royal.
They were forced to come from a goal down after Craig Johnston fired the hosts into a ninth-minute lead.
Harthill went into the game on the back of six consecutive South Division victories while the visitors are entrenched in a Premier League relegation battle, so the clash always had the potential of a cup upset.
However, the Burnie put paid to that notion with a brilliant display that will hopefully boost their confidence and see them climb away from the lower reaches of the division.
They were trailing for barely a minute when Martin Russell’s neat pass found Gary Brass who duly slotted home the equaliser for the visitors.
The remainder of the first half was a relatively tight affair although Whitburn showed the greater attacking endeavour on what was a tricky surface.
Harthill created a half-decent effort when Levi Kinchant’s strike was blocked back to the Royal man with his second attempt producing a neat save from James Penman.
The Premier League side took the lead shortly after as Russell got on the end of a Jack Hamilton free- kick to bundle the ball beyond Royal keeper Jonny Grier.
With the Burnie holding a slender lead at the interval, the game was still very much in the balance but the away side settled their nerves within a minute of the restart as they netted a spectacular third.
Lewis Milton collected the ball in the middle of the park, strode forward and unleashed a thunderbolt from 35 yards that flew into the top corner beyond a helpless Grier.
Safe passage to a third round trip to Superleague side Newtongrange Star
appeared to be sealed five minutes later as Whitburn netted number four.
Brass raced through on goal and was unceremoniously brought down by Grier who, despite escaping without punishment, was forced to then pick the ball out of the net as Brass duly dusted himself down and converted the spot-kick.
It was now wave after wave of claret and amber attack with number five arriving when Jordan Thomson’s effort was parried by Grier, who impressed despite conceding six times.
Andy Thomson, though, was on hand to prod the ball into the empty net and make it a four-goal cushion for the Burnie.
With their heads down, Harthill were unable to stop the bleeding and Whitburn netted a sixth with 15 minutes still remaining.
Russell attempted a speculative effort from outside the penalty area that appeared to unsight Grier in the Royal goal as it passed through the mass of bodies, deflecting off Whitburn’s John Paul Greig along the way before rolling inside the back post.
Despite being swept away, it was Harthill who had the final say in the contest as they netted their second with virtually the last kick of the game.
Penman deflected a well-taken freekick on to the bar with a combination of former Fauldhouse striker Kyle Richford and Johnston ensuring the ball was eventually bundled over the line, with the latter getting the final touch.
It would have done little to dampen Whitburn’s mood at the final whistle, though, as they secured their largest away victory of the season.