Berwick Rangers crash to defeat after two early goals and an early sending off

The visitors netted five times without reply at MKM Shielfield.

Matty McDonald drove in from the left and fired the visitors ahead in the seventh minute, and a second followed soon after as Errol Douglas put away a low finish.

When Taylor Hendry saw red for an elbow after just 15 minutes, the writing was on the wall for the ‘Gers.

“They deserved their two-goal lead in the 10-minute spell where we’ve got to be better as individuals.

“We’ve got an absolute mountain to climb when we go down to 10 men – down to 10 men with a level score, you’ve got a bit of a chance, but when you’re 2-0 down with 10 men, with 80 minutes of the game still to play, including the injury time, it’s an uphill task and something I can’t defend, really,” said the gutted gaffer.

Douglas added his second to make it three 10 minutes into the second period and further strikes from Chris O’Kane in the 73rd minute and Luke Watkins on 75 compounded Berwick’s misery.

“I think the sending off is the only decision the referee got right today. I thought the referee was very poor but that’s not an excuse. That doesn’t accumulate to the result at the end of the day.

“I thought the game could have flowed a bit more, we could had more 50-50 decisions – we didn’t, but the red card certainly affected the game,” continued Haynes.

“The way we defended, particularly at the end with the two goals late on in the last 15 minutes, it’s just so difficult to get back into the game at that stage.”

The manager was gracious in defeat, however, and said: “Congratulation to Broxburn on the result, I thought they were outstanding. I thought their tactics were spot-on.

“They came to the ground and they changed their team due to the conditions and the park, so they made the decision to change.”

The black and golds are fixture free this weekend and return to action at Gala Fairydean Rovers on Saturday, December 27.