Never having played Lowland League club Civil Service Strollers in a competitive match, these sides have been paired in two cup competitions this season. The first meeting took place at Christie Gillies Park in Edinburgh last night (Tuesday) and manager Scott Bonar made several changes to his starting line up. In came Keir Russell to partner Nick Aitchison in central defence and Joe Tait, Dylan Tait and Mark McGovern formed a new front three. The home side made most of the early running as Haddington found their feet on the big pitch. The visitors defended well with the Strollers looking dangerous on both flanks. Dylan Tait had the first real chance of the match when his close range effort cleared the bar. The visitors took the lead when Joe Tait won a corner on the left and Aaron Ponton’s inswinger found the back of the net. The Haddington players were working hard to limit the home side to few openings and they led at the break. Civil nearly equalised in the opening minutes of the second half when goalkeeper McLellan was beaten by a close range header that came back off the bar and the home side somehow contrived to miss the rebound. They were to pay dearly for this miss as Haddington quickly took play to the other end and Dylan Tait finished well with a low shot into the net after a wayward defensive pass ended up at this feet 15 yards out.
The home side used their bench as they tried to retrieve the situation, but Haddington fought hard and they impressed their supporters with their work rate on the large playing surface. They defended well and the introduction of Auriemma, McGarry and Windram gave them fresh legs up front for the closing stages. Civil pulled a goal back minutes from time but the Hi hi’s held out for an impressive cup win.
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