Hat-trick hero Liam Buchanan has a ball with Berwick Rangers at former club Cowdenbeath

That 4-0 victory saw the Northumbrians pull off a winning double against their Fife hosts, having beaten them 2-1 in the reverse fixture at Shielfield Park in October, and to add insult to injury, three of them were scored by former Blue Brazil striker Liam Buchanan.

The Edinburgh-born 37-year-old, at Rangers since July last year following a season-long second spell at Cowdenbeath ending in their relegation from League 2 to join his new club in the Scottish Lowland Football League, opened the scoring with a tenth-minute shot past Danny Farrell.

Buchanan, first with Cowdenbeath from 2002 to 2007 before moving on to the likes of Partick Thistle and Raith Rovers, netted another from the penalty spot on 41 minutes after a Jordan Armstrong foul on Cammy Graham.

He got his hat-trick on 68 minutes, placing the ball past Farrell after it was headed on by David Ferguson from a corner.

Having earned himself that afternoon’s match-ball, Buchanan, also responsible for October’s match-winner against his old club, was replaced by Lewis Allan on 71 minutes and given a round of applause by Wee Gers fans as he went off.

Allan then proceeded to carry on where the man whose boots he was sent on to fill had left off by scoring a fourth against home manager Maurice Ross’s side on 82 minutes.

Cowdenbeath were initially anything but gracious in defeat, however, reportedly refusing to give Buchanan the match-ball, though they’ve since made arrangements to forward it.

A spokesperson for the Central Park club said: “We have been in touch with our friends at Berwick Rangers and have arranged for the match-ball to either be collected by one of their local players or we will send it down to Berwick to be passed on to Liam Buchanan in respect of his hat-trick feat.”

That belated offer to make amends was sparked by tweet by Buchanan, given almost 500 likes, saying: “I returned to Cowdenbeath, a club where I started and had great times my first time there, and I got a hat-trick but they refused to give me the match-ball. That’s a pity. Be better, not bitter, they say.”

He later added: “Common-sense has prevailed and the club have shown the class I know they have. It was a shambles. It’s a shame and didn’t need to end like this, but I appreciate the gesture.”

That result leaves Rangers sixth in the table, with 56 points from 33 fixtures, ahead of three weeks off prior to a visit from seventh-placed East Kilbride on Saturday, April 8, with kick-off at 3pm.