Ormiston 4
Hawick Royal Albert 1
EoS FIRST DIVISION
JOHN SLORANCE reports from Recreation Park
FACING bottom-of-the-table Ormiston, Hawick thought they were in with a chance of getting a much-needed win.
Thinking, however, was as far as it got, for the struggling Teries were once again turned over – this time by an Ormiston outfit which deserved victory.
Albert coach Owen Murphy told TheSouthern: “I thought we did okay in the first half. Lack of concentration cost us goals in the second half and this has been our big failure in our past few games”.
With a strong swirling wind at their backs, the Albert squandered a chance to take the lead in the opening minutes. Gordon Ramsay hurled a throw-in high into the goalmouth and the ball broke to the feet of Peter Keenan, who blazed his shot wildly over the bar.
Hawick began to have the bulk of the play, but moves repeatedly broke down in front of goal. The hosts were defending well and looking dangerous on the break with some thrusting attacks.
And during one such raid, they broke the deadlock in the 20th minute when, finding space down the right, Conor Ramage whipped over a low cross which was rifled home by Kyle Auld.
Just a couple of minutes later, Martin King put the Teries on level terms with a low shot that struck the post before spinning into the net.
Ormiston came rallying back and Albert keeper Ross Taylor pulled off an excellent save in tipping a Richard Weir effort over the bar. Minutes later Taylor emerged the visitors’ saviour again with a tremendous double stop – first blocking a Ramage shot and then thwarting Auld who had met the rebound.
After Innes Zenati came close with a header from a corner kick by substitute Scott Watson, who had replaced the injured Ramsay, the in-form Taylor kept the homesters at bay by saving from Craig Fisher.
In the 54th minute, Ormiston went ahead for the second time. Auld switched from goal scorer to goal maker when he played a Craig Fisher free kick to the feet of Ramage, and the big striker slotted a shot out of Taylor’s reach.
Hawick fell into further arrears two minutes later. After dispossessing Aiden Reilly, Brian McEwan darted forward and, with the Albert rearguard at sixes and sevens, slipped a pass to Ramage, who produced the finishing touch.
At the other end, a well-struck drive from Declan Hogg was saved at full stretch by home number one Adam Aitchison.
Ormiston, however, were in the driving seat and a McEwan shot cannoned off the upright.
With five minutes remaining, Ormiston bagged a fourth when substitute Graeme Purves netted a Craig Fisher corner kick from close range.
Hawick Royal Albert: R. Taylor, K. Fettes, R. Shepherd, A. Reilly, K. McCulloch, I. Zenati, S. Drummond (D. Hogg), R. Fleming, P. Keenan, M. King, G. Ramsay (S. Watson).