ORMISTON PRIMROSE Ormiston 1 St Andrews United 8 Ormiston 0 Tweedmouth Rangers 3

ORMISTON played host on Saturday to St Andrews United in a King Cup third-round tie, with the prize at stake a quarter-final at home to Newtongrange Star.

Given the Primrose’s position near the foot of the EOSFL Second Division table, they went into the match very much as underdogs against a Saints outfit chasing a second successive promotion and hopeful of Premier Division football in 2024-25 – however, in recent times the visitors had not found Ormiston an easy place at which to get a result.

This time out, though, they made short work of things in exposing the relative fragility of the Primrose defence, and the tie was over as a contest by its midway point.

Sawers had the visitors in front barely five minutes in, then Sneddon headed past Kieran Beveridge in the home goal following a corner with 10 minutes played.

With a two-goal advantage at such an early stage, St Andrews largely controlled the play but Ormiston were given a glimmer of hope when Chris Hogg from the penalty spot reduced the deficit with 34 minutes on the clock.

That faint hope, though, was soon extinguished as St Andrews netted another two goals before half-time – Lorimer beat Beveridge from 25 yards out just moments after Hogg’s penalty conversion, and Sawers then netted from close range.

Damage limitation was the Ormiston objective in the second half but their opponents were simply too strong for them. Dignan made it 5-1 on 57 minutes, then substitute Murage added another almost immediately afterwards, going on to complete his hat-trick to make the final score a very convincing 8-1.

On Tuesday, Ormiston hosted their 21st Second Division fixture, key to their survival ambitions. Their visitors Tweedmouth Rangers arrived at New Recreation Park as the team just above the relegation zone, holding a 10-point advantage over Richie Weir’s, side though having played five games more. A home win would reduce the gap to seven points and give the Primrose players a degree of belief they could pull off another great escape act in saving their Second Division skins, whereas defeat would in most people’s eyes consign them very probably to Third Division football next season.

Howden struck the first blow for Tweedmouth with 13 minutes played and they held their lead until the interval, with nothing much really between the teams.

Ormiston competed on equal terms for much of the evening but could not get the break they needed in front of the opposition goal, and Tweedmouth’s second courtesy of Bloomfield a little over 10 minutes from time came as a hammer blow. Aitchison made it 3-0 from the penalty spot five minutes later to leave their hosts deeper in the relegation mire.

To catch up now on Tweedmouth, 13 points ahead, with nine games remaining, would be a quite remarkable achievement for Ormiston – not many will see such an outcome as viable at this stage.

Burntisland Shipyard are their visitors this Saturday, then Coldstream come calling on Tuesday evening.