Ormiston v Dunbar on 23rd June, Derek Hall’s report

Ormiston 0-3 Dunbar United
An East Lothian derby with Ormiston hosting a Dunbar United side with a few new faces brought in by Geoff Jones, whilst the home sides’ preparations curtailed by Covid with no less than five players self isolating, much to the frustration of Richie Weir. After four minutes, an Ashraf cross for Ormiston was headed in the air at the back post by Ingram and Hunters’ angled volley went over, before Ashraf himself tested Laing in the Dunbar goal with an angled drive which the keeper held low to his left. Hopkinson then fed a nice ball to Tait down the right but the Dunbar full back was coming back from an offside position. A Purves free kick from wide left into the Ormiston box had to be carefully watched by keeper Beveridge, but he held on confidently. After eleven minutes, Ashraf again made progress down the left flank, this time picking out Scally who pulled his shot across the face of the Dunbar goal and wide. Two minutes later, Thomson blocked a Scally drive before Ashraf followed up from 22 yards but shot over. On the quarter hour, Hopkinson threaded a lovely diagonal pass through to Handling but home keeper Beveridge was smartly out to the edge of his box to block. A lovely pass out from defence from Ingram found Bathgate and he clipped the ball in for Tait, who lobbed the onrushing Beveridge but the ball also cleared the home crossbar. However the visitors weren’t to be denied and a beautiful first touch by McLaren saw him then lash a stunning right foot drive into the top corner from 25 yards giving keeper Beveridge no chance. The game was end to end and Paitchett put Hunter in but his shot was blocked before Bathgate shot over from a Handling pass, and then Purves shot over the bar, having also been set up by Handling. However in the 32nd minute, the visitors doubled their lead after Bathgate had been brought down by Fairnie 30 yards out and Thomson bent his right foot shot round the wall with the uneven bounce deceiving keeper Beveridge as he allowed the ball to squirm right through him and into the net. A Hopkinson corner then saw the head of McLaren flick the ball goal wards but C Scott cleared off the Ormiston line as the Dunbar pressure mounted. Once again Ashraf and Scally combined well down the left for Ormiston, with the latters cross just eluding C Scott at the back post. Back came Dunbar with Purves and Handling setting up Tait in the box but he delayed getting his shot away and was crowded out. A deserved lead at the break for the visitors who upped the tempo at the midpoint of the half after what had been an extremely even and entertaining first 20 minutes.
One or two half time changes and on 48 minutes one of the Dunbar subs, Devlin, set up Hopkinson whose 24 yard drive drifted wide and shortly afterwards, a Thomson cross picked out Devlin again but the header was well off target. After 57 minutes, Siegel got himself forward from the back for the home side but his low 30 yard drive skipped wide. A minute later, the home side were almost back in the game when Fairnie took a really careless free kick inside his own box and passed the ball straight to Hunter who rifled in a shot from 20 yards which Laing got right behind to make the save. After 63 minutes, Bathgate dispossessed Siegel on the halfway line and fed the ball to Hopkinson, but home keeper Beveridge was alert to the danger and sprinted off his line to make another important block. On 67 minutes a cross from the left found Devlin 12 yards out in acres of space but he snatched at the chance and the contact was poor. Devlin himself then made another chance for Purves but once again the contact made wasn’t the best. However it was all over midway through the half when Bathgate pulled the ball back to Thomson whose low shot from the right edge of the penalty area was turned into his own net by C Scott. On 69 minutes, Ormiston keeper Beveridge made a brilliant save from a powerful Fairnie header before a Purves shot went wide and then Ormiston brought on some fresh legs with Crutchen and Lock replacing C Scott and Scally. As Dunbar continued to press, a Hopkinson drive went wide before the same player found Devlin and his pass to Purves then saw Thomson set up for a fifteen yard drive which brought out yet another good save from keeper Beveridge who, but for one earlier mistake, had been excellent. With five minutes left, Hunter of Ormiston found himself cautioned for passing comment to referee Allan after he had been penalised for a fairly obvious push near the goal line. Referee Allan then had to have a word with Ormiston assistant coach Gary Sutherland who also had his say on the matter. Right on 90 minutes, Handling got himself across the face of the Ormiston penalty area and his left foot drive once again brought the best out of home keeper Beveridge who palmed wide at full stretch low to his left. Two minutes into stoppage time and the match was about to end in somewhat bizarre circumstances as Dunbar manager Geoff Jones was shown a yellow card by referee Boise Allan for complaining about an offside decision. However before the game could restart, further ‘advice’ was clearly given to the referee by the manager and a second yellow was swiftly followed by the inevitable red card and the game ended soon afterwards. At the conclusion, a comfortable win for the away side with some players still settling in but at times, they looked really creative in the middle of the park. Ormiston fought hard and will just be hoping to get their Covid ‘victims’ back as soon as possible to involve them in these games, although they have real pace particularly down the left flank which should be a dangerous option going forward.