Unbeaten run over but Hawick Royal Albert up for cup

Hawick Royal Albert vying for possession with Edinburgh South on Saturday (Photo: Steve Cox)

Hawick Royal Albert are feeling upbeat about their prospects of progress in the King Cup this coming weekend despite having an unbeaten streak stretching back over two months brought to an end on Saturday, according to manager Kenny Aitchison.

Albert lost 2-0 at home to Edinburgh South at Hawick’s Volunteer Park 3G pitch at the weekend, ending a run of three draws in a row in the East of Scotland Football League’s second division.

Declan Roose and Ross Brady scored for the visitors on eight minutes and 85 to leave Albert – reduced to ten men by a 60th-minute sending-off for Owen Renton for a second yellow card – empty-handed for the first time since a 1-0 loss away to another capital side, Edinburgh United, back on Saturday, November 5.

“It wasn’t the best game to watch, I must say, despite there being a good crowd,” said Aitchison. “Neither team created many chances.

Hawick Royal Albert losing 2-0 to Edinburgh South on Saturday (Pic: Steve Cox)

“There was nothing in it. We hit the post and if that had gone in, it would have been one-all, but we subsequently went down to ten men with half an hour remaining, so it was a tough game for us.”

The Royalists were forced to switch venue for Saturday’s match because of flood damage to Albert Park and Aitchison had been hopeful that might work in the favour, though any such hopes proved to be unfounded.

“The funny thing was that going into the game I thought we’d get a bit of a boost because we train on the 3G and with our squad being relatively young and more accustomed to playing on artificial turf, we’d benefit from that, but it turned out that my hypothesis was wrong,” he said.

Saturday’s defeat leaves Albert at the foot of the table, on five points from 15 games, two adrift of second-bottom Ormiston Primrose but with three games in hand on the East Lothian outfit.

Hawick Royal Albert on the ball versus Edinburgh South at the weekend (Pic: Steve Cox)

Primrose provide their next opposition, albeit in the King Cup’s second round rather than the league, with that away tie kicking off at 1.30pm at New Recreation Park, and Aitchison says his side are looking forward to trying to continue a cup run set in motion by a 3-2 first-round victory hosting Edinburgh United in November.

“Our next game’s against Ormiston so it’s another opportunity to go into a match with a fresh perspective,” he said. “We love a cup run and I think there’d only be three games until the final. It’s a chance to get further in this competition.”