Berwick Rangers keep up unbeaten record in league with 1-1 draw hosting Broomhill
Berwick Rangers remain unbeaten this Scottish Lowland Football League season after drawing 1-1 at home to Broomhill on Saturday but manager Thomas Scobbie wasn’t happy about the way they let their 100% record slip.
Securing even that single point at Shielfield Park – taking their tally for the season to ten from four fixtures – required captain Jamie McCormack to come up with a headed 80th-minute leveller after giving away a controversial penalty, scored by Devan McColl, eight minutes earlier.
“I thought we were poor and never really got going, so were lucky to get a point out of it, but we’ll take it and move on,” former Stenhousemuir defender McCormack, 32, told the club’s Facebook page afterwards.
“I felt like I had to. The ref gave a penalty against me, so it was good to get one back for the boys. To be fair, I didn’t think it was a penalty.
“It was a disappointing day, really disappointing.”
Manager Scobbie, 36, agreed with that verdict, saying: “I don’t think we deserved anything out of that game. We never really got going, to be honest.
“Our energy levels looked like they had dipped and we lacked a real cutting edge in the forward area, but the positive we take out of the game is that we are still unbeaten.”
Next up for Rangers in the league is an away-day at fifth-placed Heart of Midlothian B tomorrow, with kick-off at 7.45pm, and Scobbie is expecting another tough test of his team’s credentials.
“The games are coming thick and fast, and we are still missing a few players so hopefully we can get them back as the team need rotation,” he said.
“It’s really difficult going Saturday and Tuesday over a sustained period, and I think we saw that in the Broomhill game.
“It will be a tough fixture against a very good Hearts B side. Them being a full-time team, it sets up different challenges for the lads both physically and tactically, but it’s always a tough game against any of the B teams in the league.”
Berwick lost last season’s corresponding fixture against the Edinburgh outfit’s under-21s by 6-0 in October but drew 2-2 with them at home the month before.
Rangers were in midweek action away to Dumbarton in the second round of the SPFL Trust Trophy on Tuesday night, losing 4-0.
Their Scottish League One hosts’ scorers were Craig McGuffie seven minutes in and just past the half-hour mark, Michael Ruth on 23 minutes and David Wilson on 37 to book their place in round three.