Berwick Rangers suffer heart-breaking late defeat in seven-goal thriller

Ten-man Berwick Rangers suffered a gut-wrenching late defeat to Brechin City on Saturday afternoon as their hunt for a first league win of the season continues.

Kevin Haynes’ away side found themselves 3-2 up with just seven minutes left to play, but would go on to lose 4-3 in Angus as their hosts pressed home their numerical advantage in the closing stages of a thrilling contest.

Berwick came roaring out of the gate at Glebe Park, establishing a two-goal lead inside the opening half hour courtesy of headed efforts from Callum Mackay and Josh O’Connor, before Fraser MacLeod halved the deficit for Brechin shortly before the interval.

After the break, Rangers loanee Kieran Moyles would concede a penalty that Dale Hilson dispatched coolly, and the Borderers would sustain another blow with a quarter of an hour remaining as Mark McConnell limped off injured. With Haynes having already used all of his substitutions, the visitors were forced to carry on a man light.

Nevertheless, they edged themselves ahead once more as Ben McCrystal superbly assisted Kyle Somers, only for a MacLeod volley and an exquisitely taken second from Taylor to shatter Berwick hearts right at the death.

Despite the score-line, however, Rangers boss Haynes was impressed with his side’s character and application on a difficult and lengthy trip north. Speaking after the final whistle, he said: “I thought it was two teams that were actually going for it. I said that to the players in there, it was very boxing match-ish. It was just a punch for a punch, which I asked the players to do.

“I asked the players to go and impose themselves on the game and create opportunities and attack them. I felt we'd done that. I think what's undone us again is injuries. But as a team we have to do better, we're 3-2 up with seven minutes to go, probably. I think we need to make better decisions. We need to be more structured in terms of probably the middle of the pitch. I think we just made a couple of poor choices, and they resulted in two goals.”

He added: “I felt we were much improved in terms of our attitude, our willingness to run, to do the dirty stuff. I thought there was a bit of honesty about us. The output we’ve put into this match today is massive. I think we deserve a little bit more.”