Dunbar United take the bragging rights in East Lothian derby

Captain Grant Thomson led Dunbar to an important derby victory after back-to-back losses [Pic: Dunbar United]

The Seasiders were second best to their near neighbours in the opening half with Zach Szemis netting the opening goal for Scott Bonar’s visiting side.

Dunbar were much improved after the interval, however, scoring two in five minutes through Sean Stewart and Darren Handling.

Donlevy admitted he didn’t see their revival coming after a lacklustre opening half.

“To get the win was massive,” said Donlevy. “We never really kicked a ball in the first half and never really got close to Haddington. It was pretty easy for them, but we regrouped at half-time, spoke about different things and gave them a wee kick up the backside.

“It would’ve been easy for the lads to feel sorry for themselves at half-time after two defeats and being behind in a derby, we hadn’t really laid a glove on them, but they never.

“We made a slight tactical change and put Darren Handling upfront just to give us a different proposition and it worked for us. To a man, we were excellent, just in terms of our energy and work rate – all the basic stuff that we never really done in the first half.

“We made a couple of changes about 60 minutes and brought on Ben Bathgate. His energy to get about the pitch and make runs in behind is just incredible and he offered a different problem to Haddington. I think he was the catalyst for everyone else offering that little bit extra.

“I think Haddington will be annoyed with themselves that they didn’t kill the game off in the first half because they probably should of. We hung in there really, going in 1-0 at half-time was a win for us because they were so dominant.”

Donlevy revealed how they hope to follow in the footsteps of Haddington in their first season back in the top flight, he continued:

“Haddington a little bit of a blueprint for us. They came up last season and established themselves as a really good Premier Division side – and we want to emulate that in our first season [back in the Premier Division]. They were on form; they had won their last five league games going into Saturday, so to get a win is huge for us.

“It’s a positive way to end this league spell after losing our last two. We are going into a couple of cup games off the back of it, it would’ve been a tough one to take [had we lost]. At half-time I didn’t think we would go on to win the game, but credit to the lads for turning it around.

“I’m hoping the win can give us a bit of a shot in the arm in terms of confidence, which we’ve maybe lacked the last couple of games when we haven’t performed.”

Elsewhere, league leaders Broxburn Athletic maintained their unbeaten start to the season in a 7-3 thriller at Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts, with striker Gary Brass netting a hat-trick. Musselburgh Athletic thrashed ten-man Penicuik Athletic 6-2 at Olivebank, with Nathan Evans netting for Liam Burns’ men inside the opening minute.