Berwick Rangers Reserves 4
Peebles Rovers 3
EoS FIRST DIVISION
GOALS in the first and last minutes, the lead changing hands three times, two dismissals and a wind which made life difficult for the players were features of this match which saw the Reserves complete a league double over Peebles, an outcome that did not seem on the cards as the game entered its final phase.
Berwick struck early, Michael Robinson completing a move down the right with a well-placed shot past keeper John Nesbit.
The lead was shortlived. Trialist Liam Rafferty gifted the ball to Scott Watson and while home keeper Kieran Beveridge got down to meet Watson’s shot he could only help the bobbing ball into the net.
Berwick retook the lead on 17 minutes, Robinson slotting home the rebound after Shaun Hill hit the post.
Four minutes into the second half, Berwick were down to 10 men when Elliot Grieve was shown red for a two-footed tackle. The visitors piled on the pressure and Peter Connaghan’s back-header fell perfectly for Craig Edgar to send the ball netbound via Beveridge’s leg.
The Peebles striker scored again from a narrow angle after Beveridge failed to smother an awkward shot immediately beforehand, but the teenage goalie denied the same player a hat-trick by tipping a free kick over the bar.
Following Callum Hill’s 83rd-minute corner, Rafferty blasted a 30-yarder. Nesbit punched it out as far as Jason Darling, playing as a trialist, and last season’s reserves’ captain celebrated his reappearance in a Berwick jersey by slamming in the game’s third equaliser.
Two minutes from time, Peebles defender Ronnie Fleming, booked for upending Kevin Carter just before the interval, received a second yellow card to earn a second sending-off against Berwick this season.
As Peebles pushed men forward in search of a late winner, Beveridge saved brilliantly from James Telford. Downfield, the ball bounced favourably for Hill, who played it through to Sam Young, who slid it past Nesbit to give Berwick victory.
Peebles: J. Nisbet, Ron Fleming, J. Girdwood, Ray Flemming, S. Galloway, P. Connaghan (J. Telfer), N. Cairns, S. McKenzie, G. Shortreed, C. Edgar, S. Watson.