Kelso United 7
Hawick Royal Albert 3
EoS FIRST DIVISION
GEORGE RILEY reports from Woodside Park
A SIZEABLE crowd at Woodside Park were treated to a high-scoring encounter between these Borders rivals, with the home side coming out on top thanks to a hat-trick from United’s top scorer Des Burnett.
The first goal of 10 came with less than a minute gone, when United’s Calum McClure crossed from the right hand side, the ball was headed on at the near post and Jordan Lauder was first to react to strike home.
The home side made it two eight minutes later when again McClure galloped down the right hand side and this time his cross found Liam Wallace in space in the penalty box and the blond midfielder fired a shot past Albert keeper Kerr Brown.
Burnett got his first of three goals on the 15-minute mark when a Wallace pass split the visitor’s defence and the No9 ran on to clip the ball past the keeper.
Hawick began to find their feet after 20 minutes and after good work by Jay Paterek and Peter Keenan the ball broke to Andy Noble, who shot just wide. A long-range effort by Paterek had United keeper Scott Dowie at full stretch to turn the ball round the post.
Dowie again had to look smart to dive at the feet of Keenan, who latched onto a through ball from Hawick’s best player Lawrie Cannon.
Albert eventually got a goal from their efforts when Declan Hogg supplied a diagonal ball to Keenan, who showed good skill to chest the ball and then fire a shot past Dowie.
United increased their advantage two minutes before the break when a long throw from the right touchline by McClure found Burnett in the six-yard box and the big striker turned to slot the ball into the net.
The visitors brought it back to 4-2 at the start of the second half when Andy Noble was on hand to rifle a shot home after the United defence failed to clear.
Midway through the half, United were awarded a penalty by referee David Doig when Albert defender Jason Wood pulled down Burnett in the box. The striker picked himself up and converted the spot kick.
Hawick’s teenage keeper Kerr Brown had a couple of excellent saves as he stopped a Wallace shot at point-blank range with his feet and then turned over a vicious shot from the same United player.
Jason Wood’s afternoon got worse seven minutes from time when trying to a clear a Burnett cross he unfortunately diverted the ball into his own net past the helpless Brown.
Albert got their third goal in the 85th minute when Keenan latched on to a through ball and just managed to flick it past Dowie into the net before being clobbered by the advancing keeper. Dowie received a yellow card and Keenan had to hobble off a minute later.
Kelso completed the scoring in injury time when Wallace burst from midfield to shoot past Brown.
Kelso United: S. Dowie, J. McCutcheon, S. Angus, D. Bowie, G. McNulty, D. McNulty, C. McClure (C. Webb), M. Laidler, D. Burnett, L. Wallace, J. Lauder.
Hawick Royal Albert: K. Brown, I. Zenati, J. Wood, L. Cannon, G. Johnston (M. Paton), K. McCulloch, A. Noble, D. Hogg, P. Keenan (S. Drummond), J. Paterek, D. May.