Gala Fairydean Rovers hoping to end year on a high note at Berwick after back-to-back defeats

The Galashiels side threw away a 1-0 half-time lead at home to Edinburgh’s Spartans at Netherdale on Friday night and ended up losing 3-1, following on from a 5-4 defeat hosting East Kilbride in their preceding Scottish Lowland Football League fixture just short of three weeks.

Rovers will be looking to make amends for those losses against Berwick Rangers at Shielfield Park this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 1pm, and they’ve got an extra point to prove against their Northumbrian hosts after losing the reverse fixture, their first home game of this season, 2-0 at the start of September.

“We’re looking forward to this weekend, especially as it comes after a defeat,” said the 32-year-old.“That’s the good thing about football, that you always get a chance to try to make amends, and we don’t have to wait too long this time.

“The worst thing is like what happened to us before that, when we had to go three weeks without a game after losing. That’s frustrating.

“Everybody’s looking forward to getting back out there on Saturday and trying to put on a decent performance.”

Rovers captain Gareth Rodger put his side 1-0 up five minutes ahead of half-time on Friday by heading past visiting goalkeeper Adam Meek but that was as good as it got for the hosts, Mikey Allan equalising on 50 minutes with a fluke goal fumbled by Gala stopper Ryan Goodfellow and adding another 25 minutes later, followed by a Jamie Dishington strike two minutes after that to take the capital side’s tally for the evening to three.

Looking back over September’s loss to Berwick, courtesy of goals by Liam Buchanan on 51 minutes and Michael Travis on 71, Galbraith recalled: “That was our first game back with our new pitch, having played our first nine fixtures away, and, to be honest, it was one of our most frustrating afternoons of the season so far.

“We were probably more dominant in that first half than we have been all season and then we went out for the second half and shot ourselves in the foot a bit. I think it’s important that we remember our feelings about that and try to put it right.

“Berwick are a place below us in the league so this game is an opportunity for them to leapfrog us and that’ll be motivation enough from our point of view.

“Their budget will be significantly higher than ours but these are the kinds of team we need to be competing against, and after our last game against them, we have got a point to prove.”

Player-manager Martin Scott’s Gala side go into Saturday’s game sitting 11th in the table, on 30 points from 21 matches. That’s one place and three points better off than their hosts but having played one match more.

Next up for the Borderers after that one is a visit from second-bottom Edinburgh University next Tuesday, with kick-off at 7.45pm, and they’ll be looking to do the double against the students, having beaten them 3-2 in the reverse fixture away in August.