Valentine Heart-break for Liberton

A Halloween horror show was today eclipsed by a heart-breaking rejection of 3 points for Liberton on the eve of Valentine’s day. When Liberton ventured to Peffermill, at the end of October, they were beaten resoundingly, however, today they gave a better account of themselves in a game which showed there was no love lost between the sides.

Edinburgh started shakily, with sloppy errors being made throughout the team. But, Liberton failed to capitalise when Ed Senior’s poor back-pass was latched onto by the Liberton frontman, however, after rounding keeper Agnew, Tom Archer spared Senior’s blushes by making a last-ditch tackle.

Yet, eventually Liberton were awarded a gift, when their striker nicked in behind an unsuspecting Dave Meehan inside the box, whose clearance missed the ball and found the striker’s leg. A penalty was duly awarded, and easily dispatched to put the home side 1-0 up.

Edinburgh were a little shell-shocked at going behind, and finally started to string some passes together, finding wing-men Benji Antoni and Steve Kenny both in sumptuous form, repeatedly taking on their respective full-backs and providing good crosses which, unfortunately, frequently evaded the front pair. A Kenny free-kick found Jamie Sime unmarked at the back post, but his header went wide from 4 yards out.

Half-time came and went, with the referee still looking towards his linesman for offside verdicts. The fact that he had none may have been one reason why he failed to get many of those decisions correct. The referee then missed an ugly incident, when Liberton striker David, spat in the face of Dan Paterson. Television replays confirm what the referee failed to witness, but the striker soon found himself in the book, after smacking the ball away on 3 separate occasions, even when one of those was for a free-kick he himself had won...

Burgh manager Stuart Robertson brought on the changes, with Petrie and Velez coming on for Sime and Senior, switching the side to a 3-4-3 formation. And with barely a minute left on the clock the ball somehow found its way to the toes of Calum Erskine in the box. The inform forward did what poachers do best and instinctively toe-pocked the ball into the far corner of the goal, drawing the sides level. Liberton, who had held on for so long, were clearly devastated, none more than David, who finally achieved what he had been threatening to do all match, and after a verbal confrontation with the referee, found himself walking back for an early shower after receiving his second booking.

But to add insult to injury, with only 30 seconds left in the game, Burgh broke forward once more, with Velez feeding the ball down the wing to Erskine. The Zac Efron wannabe, silkily skipped past a cumbersome centre-back before sliding the ball back across goal where Kenny had the easy task of knocking the ball home, sending the away side into ecstatic celebrations.

So, on a Valentine’s weekend which saw Liberton constantly refuse to accept anything other than a victory, they eventually found that the efforts were futile as Edinburgh refused their offer by deciding to score two very late goals, not only taking all three points with them, but breaking Liberton’s hearts on the way.