Jack Crawford
JOHNSTONE Burgh manager Murdo MacKinnon is keeping his feet firmly on the ground, despite an impressive start to his time in charge at the Keanie Park club.
MacKinnon, who has replaced Jamie McKim in the hotseat, boosted Burgh’s promotion bid with back-to-back victories against Neilston and Renfrew in the past week.
His team went behind at the Brig O’Lea last Wednesday night but responded well, with goals from Graham Dorrans, Kieran Brophy and Stuart Fyfe turning things around.
Neilston refused to down tools and managed to pull one back to set up a tense finale but the points were eventually sealed through a Dale Simeon goal a few minutes from full-time.
It was a more comfortable win in another local derby on Saturday as Burgh dumped Renfrew 3-0 at home, helped by a red card for the luckless visitors as Dom Lavelle was given his marching orders shortly after the half-hour mark.
Former Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty was on hand to open the scoring with a free-kick just before the interval.
He then added a second after 50 minutes to ease any Burgh nerves.
A third goal followed from ex-St Mirren defender Jason Naismith midway through the second period to add some gloss to the scoreline.
The derby victory left Burgh four points away from the promotion spots, with games in hand over some of their rivals, ahead of last night’s visit to Shotts Bon Accord.
Next up is a trip to Thorniewood United tomorrow night and that will be followed by a home match against Kilbirnie Ladeside this Saturday.
Speaking on Burgh’s social media channel after the win over Renfrew, MacKinnon said: “I’m delighted with the result.
“It was great – three goals, a clean sheet, a good performance. We could have got a couple more goals but, overall, I’ve got to be really happy.”
It is a busy period for Burgh as they seek promotion to the Premier Division but MacKinnon insists he is up for the challenge.
“We’re just taking it one game at a time,” he said. “We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”
Tomorrow’s match at Robertson Park kicks off at 7pm, while it is a 2pm start for Saturday’s showdown with Kilbirnie.