Win seals second place for Burgh
THE first week of May brought good fortune for the most part for East Lothian’s football clubs, all five of the county’s East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) representatives adding to their points tally as the end of the 202324 campaign draws ever nearer.
Dunbar United and Preston Athletic both picked up six points on the road – Dunbar ended a four-game losing streak with a 2-1 win at Crossgates Primrose on Saturday before returning to Fife on Tuesday to inflict upon Glenrothes a 5-2 defeat, while Preston were 1-0 winners at Camelon, then came out on top by the odd goal in seven against Vale of Leithen.
After a 3-2 defeat at Jeanfield Swifts last Wednesday evening finally ended their faint hopes of the EoSFL Premier Division title, Musselburgh Athletic sewed up second place in the table by beating Dundonald Bluebell 4-0 at Olivebank on Saturday.
Also in the Premier Division, Haddington were beaten 2-1 at home by Jeanfield but bounced back with a 4-1 success at Crossgates, while in the Second Division, Ormiston Primrose pulled off a stunning Saturday victory, putting seven goals past visitors Easthouses Lily without reply at New Recreation Park, only to then go down 4-0 in Fife against Kennoway Star Hearts as their relegation battle approaches a seemingly forlorn end.
This weekend brings the season to a conclusion for Musselburgh, whose final Premier Division outing takes them to Sauchie Juniors. Haddington’s last league game has them in Fife to face Dundonald Bluebell but their League Cup interest will keep them active afterwards – Dunbar are in Perth to take on Kinnoull but have one final league outing next Saturday (May 18).
In the First Division, Preston host Whitehill Welfare at the weekend, then on Monday evening travel to Fife to face Lochore Welfare.
Ormiston, after hosting Kennoway Star Hearts this evening (Thursday), have Newburgh as their Saturday visitors, then welcome Bo’ness Athletic on Monday evening before visiting Edinburgh United on Wednesday.
TRANENT
THE county’s only fifth-tier club wrapped up their 2023-24 campaign with a 1-0 home win over Celtic B on April 27, and so their players are currently enjoying well-earned rests as their management team and club officials plan already towards 2024-25 and a third season in the Lowland League.
By the time the new season kicks off in late July, there will inevitably have been a few personnel changes to Tranent’s playing squad, the first of them the main news out of Foresters Park this past week: 29-year-old midfield playmaker Sean Murphy, popularly known as ‘Skip’, has accepted the opportunity to move into SPFL football with Bonnyrigg Rose, who are seeking to freshen up their squad under Murphy’s former Belters boss Calum Elliot, who recently took on successfully the challenge of ensuring the Rose stayed in League Two for a third season since lifting the Lowland League title in 2022.
Murphy, a popular and influential figure in Tranent’s team since signing from Berwick Rangers in 2019, had first made a name for himself in the EoSFL with Leith Athletic, spending two seasons there before joining Musselburgh Athletic in 2016 – he had two seasons at Olivebank before a year at Berwick.
MUSSELBURGH ATHLETIC Jeanfield Swifts 3 Musselburgh 2 Musselburgh 4 Dundonald Bluebell 0
MUSSELBURGH Athletic faced a tough task last Wednesday to keep their faint hopes of the EoSFL Premier Division title alive as they headed to Perth to face a Jeanfield Swifts team reckoned one of the best in the league.
Burgh knew they had to win all three of their remaining matches to have any chance of overhauling long-time leaders Broxburn Athletic at the top of the table but, ultimately, it was not to be.
McLeish had Jeanfield ahead at the break with the only goal of the first half after 29 minutes, with Hamilton doubling their lead midway through the second half.
When Burgh substitute Jonny Court made it 2-1 with 17 minutes remaining, he handed the visitors a lifeline which was then built upon by Matty Knox with a 25-yard free-kick which drew them level with nine minutes left.
A winner was to arrive late on but, unfortunately for Burgh, it was the home side celebrating after Swifts’ youngster Watkins’ strike in the first minute of injury time condemned the Honest Toun men to only their fourth league defeat of an excellent season, and ensured that Broxburn’s title celebrations could begin in earnest.
Olivebank hosted its final competitive fixture of 2023-24 on Saturday as Musselburgh’s 90th season in existence under their current guise neared its end, Dundonald Bluebell providing the Premier Division opposition as Burgh sought to seal the runners-up spot.
Dundonald’s inconsistency which has consigned them to a mid-table position had been evident in recent times and they arrived in East Lothian with just five wins to their name in 2024 from 16 outings.
Musselburgh appeared the hungrier outfit and took a 10th-minute lead from the penalty spot as Jordan Smith claimed their 100th competitive goal of the season.
Their opponents tried their best to find a leveller but without success, and three Burgh goals inside little over five minutes towards the end of the half naturally had a demoralising effect on the Fife side.
Nicky Reid doubled the home advantage when he found the net with 36 minutes played, then barely five minutes later, Zach Khan turned the screw further when he made the score 3-0.
Buoyed by this turn of events, Burgh attacked quickly again after Bluebell kicked off once more and a visiting player’s handling offence in the box was spotted by the referee, who pointed to the spot for the second time – Smith once again converted to ensure a decidedly comfortable half-time cushion.
Burgh negotiated their way through a goalless second half relatively untroubled by their visitors’ frontmen – while Dundonald were more resilient, they failed to present the remotest signs of any unlikely comeback threat, the result guaranteeing Musselburgh would finish second in the table.
Burgh bring their season to its conclusion with an away fixture this Saturday against Sauchie Juniors, the team who preceded them as runners-up last season. With 63 points to their name, Burgh’s team have bettered the club’s previous EoSFL best set last season, when they managed 56, and will look to add another three. Sauchie, though, will also be looking to finish on a high after failing to mount the title challenge many had expected.
HADDINGTON ATHLETIC Haddington 1 Jeanfield Swifts 2 Crossgates Primrose 1 Haddington 4
HADDINGTON’S final home EoSFL Premier Division fixture on Saturday pitted them against Perth’s Jeanfield Swifts, who had lost on both of their last two visits to Millfield.
The Swifts are widely considered a match on their day for the best the EoSFL has to offer, a very capable footballing outfit who have not quite achieved the consistency required to mount a serious title challenge.
Haddington, after their excellent 2-1 win at Sauchie seven days earlier, looked forward eagerly to the challenge of avenging a 3-0 defeat in Perth in November, having lost only once in nine outings since mid-February.
The visitors maintained possession for the opening 10 seconds but goalkeeper Swinton’s touch when the ball was played back to his feet was poor and Tom Davies nipped in to take possession – his shot from the left was parried by Swinton into the path of Guy McGarry, who had only to tap home from six yards for one of the quickest goals witnessed at Millfield, with all of 17 seconds on the clock.
The visitors recovered quickly, however, and had already presented a threat in the Hi Hi’s goalmouth before levelling with six minutes played – Robbie Peffers was a little short with his passback to keeper Dale Cornet, who in trying to clear the danger succeeded only in smashing the ball off captain Nick Aitchison and over the line beyond his despairing grasp.
Swifts looked threatening and were not far from taking the lead on 14 minutes. Haddington also had their moments, McGarry forcing a save from Swinton a few minutes later before brother Lucas did likewise from the resulting corner, but in the 22nd minute, Jeanfield took the lead – afforded time and space in midfield, they worked the ball forward to Hamilton, who drilled low into the bottom corner.
The nearest thing to a Hi Hi’s equaliser came deep into first-half injury time when Davies’ free-kick whizzed just past the post.
The home goal survived a little Swifts pressure early in the second half and the Perth men held the upper hand over the course of the 45 minutes, though there was not really that much between the sides. Guy McGarry brought a good save from Swinton but by and large the Swifts keeper had a quiet afternoon – the visitors did enough to earn the points.
On Tuesday, Haddington ventured to Fife to take on Crossgates Primrose. The teams had last met at Millfield on the opening day of the season, when Scott Bonar’s men started with an encouraging 3-1 win – no one then had anticipated Crossgates would end up fighting a relegation battle but that is how things had turned out, and they went into the game knowing that only a win would give them any hope of staying up.
In a high-paced affair, the visitors edged in front in the seventh minute when Gary Windram netted from close range after his initial effort came back off a post, but the lead did not last long as a defensive lapse let Sutherland equalise in the 10th minute.
Windram restored the Hi Hi’s advantage almost immediately but things then quietened down and, though there were further scoring opportunities at both ends, the score remained 2-1 come the interval.
Crossgates managed to spend more time in their opponents’ half after the break but lacked killer instinct where it mattered and Cornet only had a few routine stops to make – his attacking colleagues, meanwhile, spurned several chances and the game remained finely balanced until an injury-time Davies double consigned the hosts to First Division football in 2024-25. Both strikes from the mid-season signing were clinical finishes from not far outside the six-yard box to the keeper’s left, within a minute of one another.
Another visit to Fife for their final Premier Division outing of the season this Saturday presents Haddington an opportunity to secure a top-half finish – sitting eighth presently, they are five points ahead of hosts Dundonald Bluebell, who have two games in hand scheduled for next week. This will be the sides’ third meeting of the season – Haddington are after their first win in the series, having gone down 3-1 in Cardenden in a Qualifying Cup tie and drawn 2-2 in the league at Millfield.
DUNBAR UNITED Dunbar United 4 Kinnoull 1 Crossgates Primrose 1 Dunbar 2 Glenrothes 2 Dunbar United 5
AFTER four successive defeats culminating in the disappointment of losing their first cup final in 24 years against Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts at Newtongrange just three days earlier, Dunbar hosted the EoSFL Premier Division’s bottom side Kinnoull at New Countess Park last Wednesday evening as they looked to return to winning ways.
Both sides had been promoted from the First Division last May but have had contrasting fortunes since – while the Seasiders have spent much of the season in the top six, the Perth outfit have been rooted to the bottom.
A flu bug having hit the Dunbar playing squad, boss Kevin Haynes was left with only 12 fit first-team players and so had to draft in several of their Development League youngsters as substitutes.
Play switched from end to end early on but it was Dunbar who took the lead just seven minutes in – Dean Whitson burst forward from defence before Bob Berry’s cross into a crowded box presented Brandon Archibald with the chance to finish.
The hosts gradually began to dominate and had chances to double their advantage before finally doing so 20 minutes after Archibald’s opener when teenager Gregor Goldie pressurised the visitors’ defence into a mistake from which he capitalised fully for his first senior goal of the season.
It was all Dunbar now – Whitson went close with a free-kick before Dylan Tait’s shot came back off a post, then Sean Stewart saw a shot blocked on the line and Tait twice more came close. The pressure finally told right on half-time when Darren Handling’s shot was blocked at the back post but Berry was on hand to dispatch the ball into the net.
The Seasiders were able to comfortably negotiate their way through the second half – unusually, both teams changed goalkeepers, the visitors at half-time, then later Shea Dowie came on for Sean Brennan for Dunbar.
Aaron Congalton made the score 4-0 with 12 minutes remaining, with Chalmers netting a consolation for the visitors five minutes later.
Saturday saw the Seasiders paying the first of two visits to Fife in the space of four days, to take on struggling Crossgates Primrose.
Illness continued to impact on their team selection but a positive start saw them go close through Goldie early on, two minutes before Kellichan spurned a gilt-edged opportunity to give Crossgates a vital lead.
On 13 minutes, Goldie gave the visitors the lead after a return pass to the home keeper took a bad bounce, and Handling nearly made it two not long afterwards. On 19 minutes, however, Dunbar’s lead doubled when Goldie’s shot deflected off a defender into the path of Tait, who slotted calmly home.
Brown headed one back for Crossgates on 26 minutes but Dunbar might have restored their two-goal lead five minutes before the break, Goldie’s effort narrowly clearing the bar.
Crossgates threw everything at their visitors early in the second half but Dunbar defended superbly and always looked a threat on the break. Ultimately, there would be no second-half scoring, the Seasiders deservedly picking up a second successive victory.
Back in Fife on Tuesday, Dunbar were again up against opposition threatened with relegation. Glenrothes were another side who came up alongside Dunbar 12 months ago and, though in a slightly healthier situation than Crossgates, cannot yet be assured of tier-six football again next season.
Liam Gregory put the Seasiders in front 12 minutes in with a nicely executed finish – this proved all that split the teams at half-time.
The Glens’ prospects of a second-half turnaround took a hit on 52 minutes when Whitson beat their keeper with a stunning effort from about 40 yards out, but McKenzie responded almost immediately to keep their hopes alive.
The flurry of goals continued with a third in barely three minutes, Willis Hare quickly restoring Dunbar’s two-goal lead from the penalty spot, then eight minutes later, Handling made it 4-1. Thompson pulled another back for Glenrothes two minutes later but the visitors had the final say when top scorer Taylor Hendry netted their fifth with 10 minutes left.
This Saturday, Dunbar travel to Perth for a quick rematch with relegated Kinnoull – they still have to visit Dundonald Bluebell too, in a fixture which will bring the curtain down on the Premier Division season next weekend.
PRESTON ATHLETIC Camelon Juniors 0 Preston Athletic 1 Vale of Leithen 3 Preston Athletic 4
PRESTON had two away fixtures to contend with for their 24th and 25th EoSFL First Division fixtures of the season, very much contrasting in nature.
On Saturday they were in Stirlingshire to face a Camelon Juniors outfit on the hunt for points to boost their promotion ambitions, then on Tuesday they travelled into the Borders to face a winless Vale of Leithen side bound for their third successive relegation.
On a somewhat dull and blustery day for the time of the year, Camelon as expected had the majority of the possession but they were to prove wasteful in front of goal – Preston, though, played with a maturity and discipline which would have delighted boss Paul Currie, whose tactics yielded the outcome he desired.
What would turn out to be the game’s only goal came with 15 minutes played, Liam McIntosh doing superbly well with the finish from a tight angle on the left after Seb Mrowczynski’s searching ball from out on the right touchline a few yards inside the opposition half found him in a great position running in.
Camelon came close to equalising on a few occasions but Sam Gray’s goal would not be breached – a combination of resilient defending, good fortune and poor finishing helping the goalkeeper’s cause.
Preston too had chances and, with greater composure in front of goal, could potentially have extended their lead before the break.
At times in the second half, the visitors’ goal came under concerted pressure and home frustration grew. Ultimately, McIntosh’s first-half goal was enough to give Preston an excellent three points, the result arguably their best of the season, and the performance among their most effective.
Tuesday’s visit to Vale of Leithen presented an altogether different challenge against the beleaguered Borderers, who will play Second Division football next season just two years after dropping out of the Lowland League.
Robbie Walker opened the scoring in Preston’s favour with 10 minutes played and, barely five minutes, later they were two up when McIntosh followed up his winner at Camelon by rounding off a fine team move.
Not long past the half ’s midway point, Mrowczynski added Preston’s third with a firm strike low beyond the keeper, and when McIntosh made the score 4-0 from the penalty spot just before half-time, things looked ominous for the hosts.
To their credit, however, the Vale players fought back after the break and were given a lifeline when Flynn pulled a goal back just four minutes after play’s resumption.
McKinlay netted the hosts’ second with 63 minutes played and the contest now had a wholly different edge than in the first half.
Preston spurned a chance to make the score 5-2 with eight minutes remaining and their nerves were stretched further when Williamson forced home the Vale’s third goal following a corner in the fifth minute of added time.
Another corner for the hosts gave them an unlikely chance to avoid league defeat for the first time all season but it was not to be and Preston added three points to their tally.
Preston have three league fixtures remaining before their League Cup quarter-final tie away at Whitburn Juniors on May 21, starting with Saturday’s home game against Whitehill Welfare – they then are in Fife on Monday evening to take on Lochore Welfare.
ORMISTON PRIMROSE Ormiston Primrose 7 Easthouses Lily 0 Kennoway Star Hearts 4 Ormiston 0
ORMISTON hosted Easthouses Lily on Saturday in what was their 24th EoSFL Second Division fixture of the season, only too aware that time was rapidly running out on them if they were to retain any hope at all of playing at the same level again in 2024-25.
Even the most ardent Primrose follower had to agree things looked far from promising as they went into the game against mid-table Lily fully 16 points behind fourth-bottom Tweedmouth Rangers, having managed to accrue a mere 13 from their first 23 league games.
The EoSFL has over the course of season yielded its fair share of remarkable results, and the scenario which unfolded at New Recreation Park on Saturday certainly qualifies.
Ormiston took the lead just six minutes in when Daniel Nichol’s cross invited veteran marksman Scott Moffat to steer the ball beyond the Lily goalkeeper, and doubled their advantage midway through the half when a misjudgment by the keeper offered Dylan Hamilton the opportunity to pass the ball into an unguarded net.
Things got even better five minutes later when birthday boy Pol Adrian delivered a superb ball over the Lily defence and Moffat was well placed to pounce for Ormiston’s third goal. Incredibly, the hosts found themselves leading by four goals when the half-time whistle blew, Ben Maxwell taking credit for the fourth after a hectic goalmouth scramble.
Adrian claimed a fifth Primrose goal five minutes into the second half and, just two minutes later, Moffat completed his hat-trick to give his team an unlikely six-goal lead.
Things quietened down but Jacques Crane rounded things off 11 minutes from time – the final 7-0 scoreline was eyebrow-raising.
With their battle to beat the drop still alive, Ormiston travelled to Fife on Tuesday to meet Kennoway Star Hearts in the first of a rapid double-header – they play again at New Recreation Park this evening (Thursday).
Primrose hopes suffered a blow just five minutes in when Black gave the hosts the lead but, with no further goals before half-time, all certainly was not lost. Johnstone, however, doubled the home lead shortly after the start of the second half, and further goals from Walker and Bryce nudged Ormiston that bit closer to the bottom division next season.
With just five games left and a 13-point gap to bridge, the mother of all miracles is required for the Primrose name to be featuring in Second Division football next season.