Berwick v East Kilbride Match Report
Berwick were beaten 7-1 by East Kilbride in the Lowland League at Shielfield Park as Jamie McCormack saw red.
Cameron Elliott converted a hat-trick for the high-flying visitors, along with two goals for John Robertson. Sean Fagan and David Ferguson added to the scoresheet before Matty Collins’ excellent free-kick gave the Gers a late consolation.
The first goal of the game came on 18 minutes. Joao Balde escaped the Berwick press to find space in the midfield. He fed Robertson on the right before his low cross was met by Elliott inside the six-yard box who tapped home to give East Kilbride the lead.
Just before the half-hour mark, a long ball from the East Kilbride defence found Robertson on the right. Robertson used his pace to cut inside before his shot that streamed through the black and gold crowd and into the net at the near post. Calum Antell could only watch the ball go past as he seemed unsighted with many Berwick defenders between him and the ball.
The Dream Team fought to get back into things, but the fight was too much for Jamie McCormack who was shown a yellow card for a late challenge on Adam Livingstone.
Berwick registered their first shot on target of the afternoon as Jonny Devers’ outswinging corner was met by the right boot of Alfie Robinson. But the Gers defender only saw his effort straight into the gloves of Matthew Connelly.
East Kilbride scored their third a few minutes later. Robinson gave the ball away cheaply for Berwick as Robertson drove towards the Gers’ goal. He again cut inside, and his shot could only be parried into the net by Antell at his near post with too much power on the shot for the Berwick goalkeeper.
Three quickly turned to four as Livingstone’s inswinging corner was flicked on by centre back Sean Fagan into the top left corner.
Another corner a few minutes later from Livingstone caused more problems for Berwick. Elliott managed to get his head to the ball, which was saved by Antell, but David Ferguson converted the rebound with little challenge as East Kilbride took a 5-0 lead into half-time.
The Dream Team looked to slow down the flow of goals aftera disastrous first half. However, the Gers’ uphill battle grew even steeper as McCormack was shown a second yellow card five minutes into the second half. The Berwick skipper was dismissed for a high tackle on Fagan to send the hosts down to ten men for the remaining 40 minutes.
East Kilbride took their foot off the gas with the three points already wrapped up. The visitors were managing to pick out the spare man comfortably with an extra player on the pitch. Elliott received a long ball around 25 yards out before playing in Robertson down the right. His low cross was met by the forward run of Elliott who slotted the ball into the goal to make it 6-0.
Five minutes later, East Kilbride substitute Che Campbell slipped in Elliott inside the box. He stepped past Robinson who could only bring the striker down and the referee awarded a penalty kick. Elliott stepped up and placed the ball into the bottom right corner to seal his hat-trick.
With just under ten minutes to play, the home fans atShielfield Park finally had something to cheer about. Matty Collins’ 25-yard free-kick was whipped over the wall and into the top left corner to score a consolation for Berwick. A miserable afternoon but Collins’ terrific strike no doubt winning goal of the day.
Berwick however fall to a crushing defeat to a side in East Kilbride that have scored goals for fun this season, as they look to seal promotion to Scottish League 2 after their play-off defeat last season. Berwick’s second successive home league defeat sees them remain in 11th place. The Dream Team’s next game is next Saturday as they play Threave Rovers in the third round of the South Challenge Cup at Shielfield Park.
