On a dull wet afternoon Haddington had the best of things in possession terms over the course of the first half, but their well known failings in front of goal and sheer bad luck conspired to deny them a goal. Brian Martin had the first chance just three minutes in, while the visitors were able to venture forward only sporadically. Murray Aitken twice came close to netting his first Haddington goal midway through the half; firstly he shot just the wrong side of the post after a strong run into the box, and five minutes later he hit the base of the near post coming in from the right. Martin again and Michael Motion weren’t far away, then nine minutes before the break Tomasz Ambrozy’s curling shot had the visitors’ keeper beaten but the ball came off the face of the crossbar. Shortly afterwards a free kick was awarded against Frazer Paterson twenty yards from the home goal and although Stobie did well to parry a fierce shot his defenders were beaten to the loose ball by the alert Bryce, who found the net from six yards despite Stobie’s best efforts.

There was little rhythm to the game after the restart, and just before the hour mark Hi Hi’s boss Dave Griffiths reshuffled his pack and introduced Marc Robertson to a three man attack. Within five minutes the substitute had a real chance to equalise but he couldn’t quite connect his head properly on an inviting ball in from Ambrozy on the left. With a minute a Robertson ball into the box was stopped by a Stoneyburn defender’s hand and from the resultant penalty Michael Motion levelled the scores. At this stage it looked as though Haddington could go on and win but spurned opportunities ultimately were to cost them two points. Aitken and Ambrozy came closest but it wasn’t to be, and Stoneyburn too had their chances in the later stages. Five minutes from time Haddington went down to ten men when Paterson was shown a red card when a booking would have sufficed.