Coldstream and Hawick Royal Albert chalk up clean sweep of wins
Both of the Borders clubs in East of Scotland Football League action on Saturday came away with wins, scoring 11 goals between them in the process.
Coldstream handed out a 6-0 hiding to Midlothian’s Easthouses Lily Miners’ Welfare at home in EoSFL division one and Hawick Royal Albert got the better of Edinburgh College by 5-2 away in the second division’s south-east conference.
Those results lift manager David Brown’s Streamers up one place to 11th in their table, on 14 points from 12 fixtures, and leave opposite number Kenny Aitchison’s Royalists as they were, fourth, now on 20 points from 11 games.
Albert’s league rivals Linton Hotspur and Vale of Leithen were both out of action at the weekend and they remain third and tenth in the table, respectively on 21 points from 12 matches and ten from ten.
Coldstream’s scorers, assisted by an 84th-minute own goal, were Craig Bell and captain Thomas Grey at the double, the former on 22 minutes and 56 and the latter on 30 and 39, and James Paxton on 35.
Albert’s were Connor Elliot on 51, Josh Philp on 75, Harry Fowler on 82, Ayoola Olusoji on 85 and Struan Maclean on 89.
Vale were due to host the Streamers’ first division rivals Kirkcaldy and Dysart in round one of this football season’s King Cup on Saturday but that tie had to be postponed due to their pitch at Innerleithen’s Victoria Park being waterlogged.
All four of the Borders EoSFL clubs are on league duty this coming Saturday, three of them at home and one on the road.
The former are Coldstream, Albert and the latter’s south-east conference rivals Linton Hotspur and they host Fife’s Kennoway Star Hearts, Perth and Kinross side Luncarty and West Lothian’s Fauldhouse United respectively.
The latter are gaffer Ger Rossi’s Vale and they’re away to Stirling University.
They’re all 2.30pm kick-offs except co-managers Ruairidh Fleming and Paul Currie’s Hotspur game against the second division north-west conference’s Fauldhouse, that being a 2pm start in West Linton.
Coldstream go into the weekend hoping to extend a five-game unbeaten streak against Kennoway, having won two of their last handful of matches – by 4-3 in May and 1-0 in January 2024, both at home in the old EoSFL division two – and drawn the other three, 1-1 in April and 2-2 in October 2024 away and 3-3 at home in February 2025, all in the old second division too.
Albert, on the other hand, have yet to beat Luncarty, having only played them twice before in the old EoSFL first division conference B, drawing 1-1 at home in October 2021 before losing 2-0 away in May of the year after.
Hotspur host Fauldhouse hoping for a third home victory on the bounce this year, having beaten them 4-2 in a penalty shootout after drawing 2-2 in round one of the Alex Jack Cup in August and 2-1 in the old second division in January.
Vale have won both their prior meetings with Stirling Uni’s EoSFL side, both in the old division two – by 3-2 at home in April 2025 and 1-0 on the road in November 2024.