Winless run goes on as Berwick Rangers hit for six by Hearts B

Following on from their second cup knockout in three weeks on Saturday, that 6-0 Scottish Lowland Football League defeat at Edinburgh's Ainslie Park extended the Northumbrians' current winless run to five games in all competitions.

On the scoresheet for Hearts’ under-21s this week against a Rangers side featuring debutant Ben Lamont, a loan signing from Edinburgh’s Spartans, were Northern Irish striker Makenzie Kirk with four – on 31 minutes, 33, 58 and 59 – plus Luke Rathie on 17 and Callum Sandilands on 71.

That followed a 1-0 South Region Challenge Cup third-round defeat after extra time at East of Scotland Football League premier division side Musselburgh Athletic on Saturday, with captain Declan O’Kane scoring the winner for their hosts with 115 minutes on the clock.

Tuesday’s fifth league loss of this campaign leaves manager Stuart Malcolm’s side sitting 11th in the table after 13 fixtures, level on 16 points with tenth-placed Cowdenbeath and ninth-placed Linlithgow Rose but having played two games more than the former and three more than the latter.

Next up for them as they look to get back to winning ways is a trip to 16th-placed Albion Rovers this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm.

Despite results not going their way of late, Malcolm, 44, is happy with the effort being put in by his players, telling the club's Facebook page: “That’s the one thing that we ask of them – that they work hard, for each other and individually – and even if they’re not performing particularly well, they need to make sure they’re working to stop their direct opponent playing.

“It’s pretty basic stuff, to be honest.

“Since I’ve been here, the team have always worked hard and been there or thereabouts in terms of work-rate.

“There’ve been times their performances haven’t been great and there've been times their performances have been really good, but one thing we’ve always had is that they work hard.”

​Berwick last played Albion Rovers in Scottish League Two in the 2018/19 season, winning twice, by 5-3 in September 2018 and 2-0 that November; drawing once, 1-1 away in March 2019; and losing once, by 3-0 at home in April 2019.