Hawick Royal Albert hoping for first win of season this weekend to start bridging 12-point gap to safety

Albert lost that game against Lily 3-1 after being reduced to nine men by two red cards and were also defeated by Tweedmouth Rangers away at the weekend, by 2-1.

Those latest losses leave the Royalists, currently bottom of the table on five points from 18 games, a dozen points adrift of safety in the East of Scotland Football League’s second division, having past the midway point of the season.

They’ve got at least three games in hand on the six sides immediately above them, though, and have still got almost 50 points to play for so they’re not giving up hope of survival yet, says Aitchison, and he wants to see them get their first win of the campaign at Albert Park this weekend against the division’s 12th-placed team.

“I00% this weekend’s game against Easthouses is even more of a must-win than the last one,” he said.

“Our last three games have been must-wins, I think, but unfortunately we’ve not been successful.

“The last Easthouses game we finished with nine men but I felt we competed really well despite that, so we’re seeing this one as a cup final, to use an old cliche.

“If we want to stay in the league, we need to pick up wins, and this is a good chance to do it.”

Albert’s scorer in Northumberland at the weekend was Greg Ford with a 18th-minute penalty, with Regan Graham netting for their hosts on seven minutes and a Darren Milne own goal on 70 winning it for them.

This Saturday’s game kicks off at 2.30pm.