Haddington met Edinburgh University for the first time in their history, when they travelled to Peffermill in an East of Scotland Premier League match last night (Tuesday). The students find themselves in the East of Scotland’s top league having been relegated from the Lowland League last season. They have found wins hard to come by but they haven’t been on the end of any big scorelines. So having lost their last four matches, the Hi Hi’s were under no illusions that this would be a difficult match on a pitch far bigger than they are used to playing on. Tom Davies, Ben Bathgate, and Gary Windram all had chances but the students were ahead on the corner count before Luke Kennedy opened the scoring in the 29th minute following persistent play by Ben Bathgate. Any thoughts that this could be the first of many were quashed when the home side equalised following a neat move in the 40th minute.
The visitors introduced Robbie Peffers for Ben Bathgate at the start of the second half and they upped the tempo as they looked to regain the lead. Edinburgh Uni were still very much in the game but they were fortunate to see Peffers hit the bar on two occasions. The visitors introduced Grant Rose and he caused problems. When he was fouled in the box in the 80th minute the visiting supporters breathed a sigh of relief but goalkeeper Campbell excelled turning away Rose’s spot kick. From the resultant corner, there was a melee in the Edinburgh box and referee Daniell Graves flashed a second yellow at Craig Reid and the visitors were reduced to ten men. The numbers were soon evened up when Ali Simpson was hauled down when he embarked on one of his trademark runs. The Hi Hi’s joy was there for all to see in the 91st minute when goalkeeper Campbell spilled a well struck shot from Ross King and Tom Davies put away the rebound to give the visitors a welcome three points.
