Hawick Royal Albert keep up 100% start to new football season at Cowdenbeath Central on Saturday and Coldstream also pick up point but Vale of Leithen and Linton Hotspur beaten

Ben Uwandu was on target at the double for manager Kenny Aitchison’s Royalists in Fife on 16 minutes and 22, the latter from the penalty spot.

That third victory in as many games lifts Albert up to second place in the table on nine points, three shy of league leaders Stoneyburn but with a game in hand on the West Lothian side.

Stoneyburn also maintained their maximum points haul at the weekend by coming from behind to beat Vale of Leithen 4-1 away, taking them to a dozen points from four fixtures.

James Flynn put his manager father Ian’s Innerleithen outfit ahead on 18 minutes at their Victoria Park home ground but their visitors hit back via Dean McConnell on 21, Ross Mackay on 34, Josh Cameron on 45 and Billy Dunlop on 71 to take all three points.

That third defeat of the season leaves Vale eighth in their table of 11, on three points from four fixtures.

A division up, Coldstream collected a point from a 1-1 draw away to Fauldhouse United in West Lothian, with former Gala Fairydean Rovers striker Zander Murray netting for their hosts.

EoSFL division two rivals Linton Hotspur took a break from league duty on Saturday for a first-round Alex Jack Cup tie away to West Lothian’s Harthill Royal, going down 2-1, with Pol Adrian on target for co-gaffers Ruairidh Fleming and Paul Currie’s visitors.

Manager David Brown’s Streamers are currently seventh in division two, on five points from four fixtures, with Hotspur 13th, on one from two.

All four of the Borders’ EoSFL sides are in South Region Challenge Cup first-round action this coming Saturday, as are the Scottish Lowland Football League’s Fairydean.

Manager Martin Scott’s Rovers are away to West Lothian opposition two tables lower, EoSFL division one’s Bathgate Thistle.

West Linton’s Hotspur are away to South Lanarkshire’s Carluke Rovers and Vale and Albert are hitting the road too, to BSC Glasgow and East Lothian’s Preston Athletic respectively.

Carluke and BSC Glasgow both play in the West of Scotland Football League’s fourth division and Preston Athletic play in EoSFL division one.

Coldstream are the only Borderers at home and they’ll host East Ayrshire WoSFL premier division side Hurlford United.

Those cup ties, among 33 being contested this weekend, kick off at 2.30pm except Hotspur and Vale’s, both due to start half an hour earlier.

Fairydean and Hotspur were the Borderers to make it furthest in the cup last time round, both reaching last October’s round three.

The former lost 1-0 at home in Galashiels to North Ayrshire WoSFL first division team Irvine Meadow XI and the latter by 2-1 hosting Fife’s Hill of Beath Hawthorn, EoSFL premier division runners-up last time round.

Fairydean beat EoSFL premier division’s Camelon Juniors 4-2 at home the round before in September after being given a first-round bye and Hotspur’s route to round three was a 6-0 win the same day at Campbeltown Pupils in Argyll and Bute, also following a round-one bye.

Round two also saw knockouts for Vale, Peebles Rovers, Coldstream and Hawick Royal Albert, all after being given first-round byes too.

Vale lost 3-0 at home to Preston Athletic, Peebles by 4-3 away to WoSFL division one’s Neilston in East Renfrewshire, Coldstream by 1-0 hosting West Lothian EoSFL first division team Blackburn United and Albert by 2-1 at the EoSFL premier division’s Newtongrange Star in Midlothian.

Round three was also as far as any Borderers made it the season before too, Albert going out at that stage by 4-1 away to the WoSFL top flight’s Kilwinning Rangers in North Ayrshire in October 2023 after beating Bathgate 2-1 at home the month before in round two.

2023’s round two also yielded knockouts for Peebles by 2-1 at home to Dunbar United and Coldstream by 4-3 hosting Stoneyburn, the latter after beating Vale 2-0 at home in that August’s first round.

Hotspur made a first-round exit as well after losing 5-3 at home to Livingston United, as did Fairydean, beaten 3-2 at Tynecastle.

Current holders of the cup are East Kilbride, now in William Hill League Two, after getting the better of East Ayrshire WoSFL premier division side Auchinleck Talbot by 2-0 in April’s final in Cumbernauld.

That Scottish Football Association-run cup has never been won by a Borders team in its 18-year history and only one have made it to a final, namely Duns in 2012.

Fairydean’s Netherdale Stadium home ground has hosted two finals, however – a 3-2 win for Annan Athletic against Edinburgh City in 2008 and a 4-2 victory for Stirling University against the Dingers four years later.