Star striker keen to push on after heartbreaking ref call

While maybe not quite as furious as manager Graeme Armstrong, the former Stenhousemuir striker was certainly disappointed after being controversially denied what looked to be a perfectly good goal in the derby clash at New Dundas Park.

With the score at 2-2, Hutchison's header was over the line before being cleared by a defender but referee Alan Hogg ignored not only the appeals of the Newtongrange players but also his assistant, who had partly raised his flag after getting a clear view of the incident along the goal-line.

Helped by that let-off, Bonnyrigg then won the game with a late goal from Craig O'Reilly, the defeat leaving Newtongrange four points behind league leaders Bo'ness ahead of their visit to New Victoria Park on Saturday.

"I know these decisions level themselves out over a season and, by all accounts, Musselburgh were unhappy with one that went against them when we played them recently," said Hutchison.

"However, no matter whether or not the referee will see his decision on Saturday as a bad one, the fact of the matter is that it's resulted in our season almost being over.

"We have to keep going to try and catch Bo'ness but we needed to win at Bonnyrigg and my header would have put us 3-2 at a good time in the match. There was no doubt it was over the line. Even their goalkeeper and half their back four thought it was over. So did the linesman, it was just the referee who thought otherwise.

"It's hard to take and no wonder that frustrations can boil over after something like that happens in a game."

In a cracking match, Bonnyrigg led then went behind before securing a valuable three points thanks to O'Reilly's late strike. "That was a real shift," added Hutchison, who only recently returned from a spell out injured. "The game started at a fast pace and I didn't get a breath until half-time. It was a good game to play in."

Having played two games more than their opponents on Saturday, Newtongrange will probably feel they need to beat Bo'ness to stand a realistic chance of overhauling Alan McGonigal's men in the title race. "At the start of season if someone had mentioned second place, we'd have been delighted. Now we are there, though, we obviously want to push on," said Hutchison.