Rose up to the Challenge of gutsy Leith

In difficult conditions, South East Region Division 2 outfit Leith gave a good account of themselves against their Division 1 opponents, but two second half goals from Michael Anderson helped Bonnyrigg see off their hosts.

Leith nearly took a shock lead in the opening minute. Jacob Hutchison played a chipped through ball over the Bonnyrigg defence to Ruaridh Delany who shot narrowly wide of the goal.

A few minutes later, Bonnyrigg player Kieran Young’s shot skimmed the left post from just inside the area after a good passing move down the left wing. Kieran Young was then played in by Anderson but his shot was caught by Leith goalkeeper Aaron Connory.

Before half time, Delany, who had picked up a through ball from Michael Di Marco, chipped the ball over Bonnyrigg goalkeeper Marc Aitken but the shot also went over the bar.

Bonnyrigg took control of the match in the second half and in the 85th minuteAnderson broke free from the Leith defence, after a pinpoint pass from Kieran Young. Anderson chipped the ball over Connory, who had come off his line to narrow the angle, and the ball bounced into the net.

A few minutes later, a cross from Ross Gemmell was too high for the Leith goalkeeper and Anderson rose to head the ball into the right of the goal for his second of the match.

Bonnyrigg continued to push for a third goal and Luke Archibald forced a good save from Connory from seven yards out.

And following continued pressure Luke Crawford’s free kick looked to be going into the top left corner of the net, but Connory rose high enough to catch the ball. With the final chance of the game, Blair Jones hit the bar for Bonnyrigg in the last minute from 15 yards out as Rose finished in the ascendancy.

Leith coach, John Robertson, felt his team acquitted themselves well. He said: “They deserved their win to be honest, but they’re a league above us. In the first half we held ourselves quite well but they showed their skill in the second half and best of luck to them in the next round. This team is a work in progress. We’ve just got to keep digging away and keep improving. Bonnyrigg Rose coach, Bryan Jones, felt that both teams played well but that Bonnyrigg had just enough quality to take the win. He said: “It was a very tough game. The conditions didn’t help but I thought that both teams applied themselves really well. In the second half we used the ball better than we did the first half. We’re very happy to be in the next round.

“It’s a transition year for us. We’ve got a match against Uphall in the next round and we don’t know much about them. We can hopefully get through to at least the third round and then we’ll see what happens after that.”

Leith Athletic 98: Aaron Connory, Robert Datt, Ruaridh Delany, Codey Brown, Kyle Henderson, Finnley Martin, Jacob Hutchison, Ousman Bajo, Rhys Morrison, Connor Taylor, Jordon Hunter, Evan Tarry, Michael Di Marco, Connor Benson.

Bonnyrigg Rose: Marc Aitken, Ethan Telfer, Jose McQueen Herreros de Tejada, Ross Gemmell, Blair Jones, Max Roarty, Luke Crawford, Cameron Alexander, Mark Bird, Lewis Seath, Kieran Young, Greg Young, James Wilson, Michael Anderson, Coll Reekie, Luke Archibald.