A bad day at the office saw Stoneyburn suffer a 5-0 home defeat to Whitehill Welfare in their League Cup opener, writes Callum McCormack.
With the visitors sitting bottom of the pile in the East of Scotland Premier Division there had been hopes for an upset at Beechwood Park but that was put firmly to bed as Stoneyburn found themselves three down inside the opening 20 minutes with Ryan Hodge, Ryan Weir and Jordon Burrows all scoring.
Weir would add to his tally just before half-time before Fyn Connor’s fortuitous effort would finish the scoring early in the second half.
Both teams started brightly but it was Whitehill who opened the scoring on eight minutes when Weir’s ball down the left wing to Liam Ireland cut open the Stoneyburn defence before Ireland’s ball across goal was met by Hodge to knock it home.
Barely 10 minutes later and it was effectively game over as the away side had built up a three goal advantage.
Their second arrived through some neat one-touch football between Andrew Kidd, Burrows and Weir down the right hand side with the latter making no mistake after being played through one-on-one with Stoneyburn keeper Matty Craig.
Five minutes later they were punished again when a long ball over the top from Kidd was well-controlled by Burrows on the edge of the box.
He fed Ireland who would see his shot well saved at the first attempt before seeing his second effort helped over the line by Burrows.
The Fulshie’s best chance of the first half would fall to Ryan Robertson when he was sent clear down the left by Cammy Donaldson but Milsa Dibaga was equal to Robertson’s decent strike. Euan Scott would try next for Stoneyburn. Substitute Callum Robertson would capitalise on some slack defending to play Scott through, but his rushed shot was gathered easily by Dibaga.
Whitehill would further extend their lead just before half-time. Kidd’s smart free-kick sent Ty O’Neill down the right channel and his cross was met by the head of Weir to double his contribution for the day and to make it four as the break approached.
To their credit, Stoneyburn pressed well at times and could have been awarded a penalty in the final seconds of the first half when Callum Robertson was brought down by Ricky Miller but nothing was given.
The visitors would seal a disappointing afternoon for Stoneyburn on 54 minutes when a half-cleared corner found its way back to Connor whose cross was too high for everyone but looped over Craig and into the net.
With the game fizzling out, Scott would have the last meaningful chance of the game but, in what was the story of the Fulshie's afternoon, his effort never really threatened Dibaga.
In the end, Whitehill would comfortably take the first three points of Group H back to Midlothian.
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