Following Wednesday’s draw to Cumbernauld Colts at Broadwood, the Rose were on the road again and eager to get back to winning ways - making three changes in an attempt to do so, as Callum Connolly, Dean Hoskins and Keiran McGachie all came into the side. However, any hopes of an immediate response were dashed within the first minute.

The Strollers opened the scoring almost immediately through Robert Cole. The number 9 collected the ball in the final third, shifted inside to a more central position and fired a low, powerful shot toward Ally Adams. The Rose ‘keeper was unable to force the ball away from danger and could only watch as it creeped over the line to give the hosts an early lead.

The sudden setback forced Rose to go on the offensive to chase an equaliser. Lee Currie tried his luck from the edge of the opposition box, his strike trailing just wide of the post, before Hoskins, getting on the end of a Kerr Young cross, was left bemused as his deflected headed effort was unforgivably given as a goal kick.

Hoskins soon executed a direct hooked pass over the top of the opposition’s high backline, allowing George Hunter - on his 50th appearance for Bonnyrigg Rose - to sprint beyond his marker, compose himself and fire a low, laced half-volley across the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

Connolly (or more so, an awkward bounce) troubled Strollers’ number one MacAllan Whyte and a Hoskins header flew over the bar from close range. But when a goal did come several minutes before half-time, it was for Civil Service. A volley from Daniel Irving put the hosts back in front; the full-back caught the ball sweetly as it fell from the sky and sensationally whacked it into the far corner of the net beyond a powerless Adams.

Rose were forced into a half-time substitution with Mikey Andrews replacing Adams in goal for the second half. The atypical switch seemingly didn’t affect the side as it took less than ten minutes for a second equaliser to arrive in what was becoming a feisty affair.

Hunter, collecting the ball with his back to goal, twisted past one defender and skipped past another before being brought down in the penalty area. Currie stepped up and slotted home Rose’s first spot kick of the league season despite the best efforts of the outstretched Whyte.

Four players had already been booked since the 40th minute and midfielder Scott Clapperton soon became the fifth after wildly firing the ball at referee Iain Sneddon following a free-kick decision that went in Rose’s favour. The ensuing free-kick nearly gifted Rose the lead. Currie cheekily dinked Hunter in behind the wall but the striker’s flick past Whyte was rebounded back into play by the woodwork and hastily cleared by the hosts.

In response, Civil Service raced up the pitch and came close themselves. Towering attacker Alieu Faye led the attack and slipped in Irving, who pushed forward on the right side unnoticed. Shooting on his weaker left foot, Irving was unable to grab a second of the game for himself as the right-back was thwarted by a fine Andrews stop.

Hunter came close with an audacious, though under-hit, lob but it was the home side who looked more likely to score as the game wore on.

A glancing header from Jonathon Moffat whizzed past the post not long before a sudden Strollers counter attack saw their starting trialist power through the last man and bear down on goal. Substitute Scott Gray’s recovery run and slide tackle was timed perfectly to bring an end to the immediate danger. The resulting corner from Gray’s excellent last-ditch slide tackle was, however, met in the air by Lewis Duffy, with the defender’s powerful header crashing off the Rose crossbar.

After a nervy final ten minutes for both sides, it was the hosts who emerged as victors in stoppage time. A Strollers substitute trialist received the ball just inside the Rose half, advanced in on goal and cut inside before unleashing a low, driven shot into the bottom left corner of Andrews’ net to snatch all three points for the home side.

After the deflating defeat in the capital, Robbie Horn and his men turn their attentions toward Tuesday’s meeting with Broomhill at New Dundas Park.

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