One win and promotion is in bag for Murdo’s men

Johnstone Burgh’s ascent up the table continues as a spot in next year’s West of Scotland League Premier Division comes into sight.

They claimed a 2-1 win over Kilbirnie Ladeside on Saturday afternoon to leave themselves needing just one more win to guarantee a promotion.

Burgh have been making up for lost time at the back end of this year’s campaign, having a number of games in hand on their rivals, claiming 22 points out of a possible 24 in the last month.

And Ladeside were the latest to fall to a rejuvenated Burgh.

With the North Ayrshire side leading 1-0 going into the second half at Keanie Park, Burgh were in need of a moment of inspiration to keep their promotion push going, and it came in the form of Kyle Lafferty, the Northern Irishman scoring in the 63rd minute seconds after coming off the bench.

Following the restart, Burgh continued to push, and were swiftly rewarded for that endeavour. Kieran Brophy scored the winning goal for the home side just five minutes later.

Speaking to club media after the game, Burgh boss Murdo MacKinnon said:

“Kilbirnie are a good side, well organised, a good management team, they know the game. I knew it was going to be tough, but we got over the line, so I’m delighted.”

On the impact of the subs, he said: “At half time I gave them an opportunity to come out, we changed a couple of wee things that we weren’t quite getting right, the boys all worked incredibly hard, but if the game’s passing you by, you need to make changes, you need to try and get yourself back in the game.

“The players that came on certainly made an impact, I asked them to do that and they did, so I’ve got to be delighted.”

The win leaves Burgh second in the league on 52 points with three matches left to play. Next up is a trip to South Ayrshire tonight where they take on Maybole at Ladywell Stadium. Win that and they’ll be guaranteed an automatic promotion spot.

MacKinnon said the team will be focused on securing that prize which has been their target this season.

He added: “Listen, as a group of players, they’re phenomenal, absolutely brilliant, all credit to them, I’m sure they’ll want to go down there on Tuesday night and put in a performance.”