Ten-man Berwick Rangers suffer narrow defeat against Gala Fairydean Rovers
Berwick boss Kevin Haynes felt his side were unlucky not to get a point after goalscorer Scott-Taylor Mackenzie saw red in their narrow defeat by Gala Fairydean Rovers.
The Borderers created chances towards the end but just couldn’t force the ball into the net as they were frustrated by a stubborn backline and a number of saves.
“Had we got a draw out there, I think it would have been deserved on the second-half performance,” the boss told the club’s media.
“After going down to 10 men, 30 minutes with 10 men is a long time after the week we’ve had with Clydebank away and then Hearts at home, so to play 30 minutes down to 10 men, the boys never gave up and I’ve got to give them massive credit for that.
“They’ve got that never-say-die attitude and we just need to tighten it up a little in the middle and stop giving teams a head start and giving ourselves a mountain to climb.”
Danny Galbraith thumped a penalty emphatically into the roof of the net to give Gala an early advantage that they doubled when Jamie Semple got on the end of Galbraith’s deep in-swinging free kick at the back post in the 36th minute.
Berwick pulled one back in first half added time as Mackenzie headed home from a corner, but Gala regained their two-goal advantage when Galbraith thumped a shot in from distance off the underside of the bar.
The black and golds had already been reduced to 10 men for 10 minutes then after Mackenzie got his marching orders and although sub Mikey Mbewe tucked away at the far post to get it back to 3-2 soon after, Berwick couldn’t find a leveller.
“There was a little spell in that game which has ultimately cost us,” said Haynes.
“I think we started the game pretty well and created a couple of opportunities, then that 25 minutes spell after that where we conceded two goals – two goals that are completely avoidable – but the players have got split-second decisions to make and ultimately that’s the decisions that they’ve made.”
Rangers had secured three precious points at Shielfield in mid-week as Jonny Devers guided in a side-footed volley and Liam Buchanan lashed in a second in a 2-0 success against Hearts B.
The Borderers are at Preston Athletic in the third round of the EoS Qualifying Cup on Saturday.