​4-0 win a Christmas gift for Peebles Rovers fans, says manager Ger Rossi

​That victory, their fifth of the current East of Scotland Football League second division season, sees manager Ger Rossi’s Rovers go level on 17 points from 13 fixtures with 11th-placed Burntisland Shipyard, with the Borderers remaining 12th by virtue of a goal difference three inferior to the Fifers’.

On the scoresheet for the hosts, returning to action after over a month off, were Gregor Lamb at the double on 12 minutes and 80, Michael Joyce on 19 and Kyle Kivlichan from the penalty spot on 49.

Next up for Peebles is a visit to Whitestone Park from bottom-of-the-table Ormiston Primrose on Saturday, December 30, with kick-off at 2pm, and they’ll be looking to do the double against the East Lothian outfit, having beaten them 1-0 in the reverse fixture in September.

Rossi was delighted to see his team score four goals for the second game on the trot, following a 4-1 win at Newburgh Juniors last month, telling the club’s website: “After five weeks idle and playing against a top-five side, I’m not sure many would’ve had us down for that type of result.

“However, the boys have been putting in a lot of hard work during the past month and I’m delighted for them that it all came together and paid off. Their efforts certainly deserved that outcome.

“Defensively, it was probably as solid as we’ve been this year, in my opinion. We just never looked like conceding.

“Without too much more in the way of goalmouth action, we managed the first half extremely well against an energetic uni side. You can never take your foot off the gas against these types of teams as you know they will go right to the end, but I just felt our lads took on the information given and added their own qualities to the game.

“We’ve maybe tried to play a little bit too much in recent games, but I felt we struck the perfect balance. Some of the lads’ play was genuinely brilliant to watch, but on the other side of it, we cleared our lines when we had to and dug in when it was important to do so.

“The lads rolled their sleeves up and got a really important three points on the board, with a performance to match.

“We will call it an early gift-wrapped Christmas present to the Rovers faithful for coming out and backing us over the line.”