Heavy loss for Hawick Royal Albert

Three goals in the closing twelve minutes of the game put paid to any chance that Hawick Royal Albert had of ending a recent losing run.
Royal Albert trialist Moses Njie heads the ball clear (Pic by Alwyn Johnston)Royal Albert trialist Moses Njie heads the ball clear (Pic by Alwyn Johnston)
Royal Albert trialist Moses Njie heads the ball clear (Pic by Alwyn Johnston)

Up until then the Royalists had been battling to salvage something out of the game.

But it was not to be and the Albert ended up tumbling to their fifth defeat in five outings.

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It was also the Albert Park sides fifth game without a goal.

With three trialists Moses Njie, Paul Macari and Lee Henry in their squad, Hawick were first to look like scoring when Domenico Pacitti hit a free kick over the bar.

Albert keeper Craig Saunders was then put to the test in dealing with a Danny Taylor free kick.

Easthouses were starting to look the likelier side and after Michael Johnson had emerged the Alberts saviour in clearing a Danny Taylor shot off the line, Saunders pulled off a top notch save when finger tipping a net bound Steven Nethery header away from its target.

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In the 29th minute however the visitors did open their account with a perfectly taken penalty after Ally Elliot had been fouled by Johnson.

Following Saunders saves from Mark Brown and Gary Shearer, a second penalty arrived the visitors way.

Shearer was tripped by Ross McRae and referee Ryan Lee pointed to the spot.

Danny Taylor strode up to take the award but there was to be no goal on this occasion for the midfield players shot was superbly saved by Saunders.

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At the beginning of the second period Hawick began to show more drive than they conjured up during the opening 45 minutes.

David Macari sent a shot wide before Njie forced Lily keeper Steven Hay into making a save when connecting with a Modou Touray cross.

Royalists were having plenty of possession but were doing little with it.

There were few goalmouth incidents until Easthouses livened matters up by scoring in the 78th minute.

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After weaving in from the left, Elliot beat Saunders with a well hit drive.

Four minutes later Elliot doubled his tally in producing a good piece of opportunism by tucking a loose ball into the net after Saunders had pushed out a shot from Shearer.

Although the game was as good as over, matters were hotting up and Easthouses duly got a third penalty.

Going for his hat trick, Elliot took the spot kick only to have his effort kept out in style by Saunders.

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Lily however did get a fourth in injury time through a perfectly hit Paul McDermott lobbed shot.

Expressing his thoughts on the match, Albert manager Paul McGovern said: “In the first half we huffed and puffed a bit but didn’t quite make an impact.

“We decided to change things around a bit for the second half and this upped our game.

“Indeed we played well for a good period and although a goal down, I thought we were in with a chance of doing something.

“However in a similar way to the Arniston Rangers game the week before we were hit by a sucker punch in losing a goal, and that was it.”