Berwick Rangers get back to winning ways against Gretna 2008 despite missing host of chances

Avid Berwick Rangers supporter Tom Young, left, was at the home win against Gretna 2008 on Saturday. Picture: Ian Runciman

Gretna 2008 travelled to Shielfield Park with an appalling away record and on a miserable run of form having not won in 2024.

Berwick were back in action following a two week break and were looking to end a run of three defeats in all competitions.

Manager Thomas Scobbie was without several players for the game – Jamie Stevenson was suspended following his controversial red card against Celtic B; Bayley Klimionek and Kane O’Connor were injured and Grant Nelson was serving the second of his two-game suspension.

Thomas Kay was in goal in place of Alex Harris, who was unavailable.

The game started with a minute’s applause for former player-manager Harry Melrose, who died recently.

Goals from Scott Bright and Liam Buchanan, who netted twice late on, saw the home team claim all three points, but they should have been out of sight by half time.

They had four goalscoring chances before Bright found the net after 18 minutes from a Buchanan cross, and could, and perhaps should have, extended their lead before the half-time whistle, but the chances went begging.

The visitors had chances of their own early in the second half but couldn’t hit the target. Their cause wasn’t helped when they had Dean Brotherston sent off with a straight red card after 64 minutes after he brought down Buchanan.

Berwick continued to squander chances until Buchanan found his range, scoring after 85 and 87 minutes to make sure the scoreline reflected the home team’s dominance.

The win moves Berwick up to 12th in the table, one place and four points below Saturday’s opponents, Cowdenbeath.

They beat bottom team Edinburgh University 2-0 at the weekend to extend their unbeaten run of games to four.

Buchanan grabbed a hat-trick in Berwick’s 4-0 win at Central Park last year, but Cowdenbeath have won the last two games at Shielfield Park 2-0.

Saturday’s match was watched by more than 50 representatives of local organisations as they took part in Berwick Rangers’ Community Day.