Burntisland Shipyard 1

Peebles Rovers 2

Neil Hobson at Recreation Park

IT was always coming, but it must have felt indescribably sweet when it eventually arrived.

Peebles Rovers picked up their first win league win of the season last Saturday, courtesy of a composed Lee Zavaroni strike and a thumping 89th minute winner from Jason Newell to see off Burntisland Shipyard at Recreation Park.

The last time Peebles crossed swords with the Fifers was in their final pre-season match in August, where a powerful Donovan Ndiweni header was all that was needed for Rossi’s men.

It was a cool and confident performance that day and add that on top of Burntisland’s woeful defensive record in the past three matches, including a nightmarish 14-0 demolition at the hands of Bonnyrigg Rose in the Scottish Cup, that’s seen the Fife men concede 27 goals, the three points must have been a tantalising and entirely obtainable objective for the Rovers.

The game started with a bang for Peebles; Zavaroni immediately fired a majestic cross-field ball to Scott Inglis, who was on the right flank as part of a 4-2-3-1 formation, and the former Peebles Ams man promptly played in Ndiweni who sped away with attacking intent, but the midfielder was eventually muscled out by Craig Winter before he could make something of it.

Peebles had countless chances throughout the first half, with Lee Zavaroni going one-on-one with Ben Paterson twice, and twice saw his shots denied by two cracking saves from the Shipyard ‘keeper.

Shipyard didn’t just soak up all the pressure however, and came very close to beating McGinley on 36 minutes after Luke Fleming wriggled away down the left and popped a cross towards a packed goalmouth, where the ball eventually fell to Winter who came close to finishing from close-range had it not been for a smart stop from the keeper.

Rovers must have been sitting in the dressing room at half-time wondering how they hadn’t beaten Paterson between the sticks, the second half offered renewed hope for redemption in front of goal.

But, what might have been an explosive comeback ended up blowing up in the Whitestone side's faces before it was even out of the packaging as a penalty was awarded after 51 minutes to Burntisland following a McGinley foul on Nathan McKay.

McKay stepped up but found his spot kick pushed away by McGinley, but not before McKay tucked it away on the rebound.

Peebles responded with a brutal siege on the Shipyard goal, with Ndiweni and Colin Smith both seeing efforts denied by Paterson.

The equaliser arrived on 61 minutes as Inglis popped up on the right flank again to send his ball whizzing across the face of goal, it fell to the feet of Zavaroni who then prodded the ball over the line to renew optimism.

Credit should also go to James Runciman who was a solid and dependable figure in the Peebles midfield.

But, as time passed, it looked as though Peebles just couldn’t quite put the ball in the net and find that elusive winner. Jason Newell then came off from the bench for David Lindsay and almost made an immediate impact as he played in fellow sub Lewis Marshall to rush away down the left, but to no end product.

Newell was fantastic up top, a real handful for a wobbly Shipyard defence. Time was running out and something had to happen to ensure that three points were returned to Peeblesshire. Inglis once again was the supplier, sending a carbon-copy of his first ball into the box. It fell kindly to the feet of Newell, who wrote himself into the history books and smashed home the 89th minute winner to secure Ger Rossi’s first three points as Peebles Rovers manager.

Peebles now look ahead to the semi-final of the Alex Jack Cup; they will face Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale at Saughton Enclosure tomorrow. Kick-off is 2:30pm

Peebles: McGinley, Mackay, Dodds, Smith, Cockburn, Runciman, Rossi, Inglis, Ndiweni, Zavaroni, Lindsay Subs: Newell, Brown, Schulz-Keith, Marshall