MUSSELBURGH completed the first third of their 30-game Superleague campaign on Saturday with a trip to the north Fife coast to take on Tayport, who were sat bottom of the table after returning to the top tier this season.
Burgh’s season to date hadn’t been without its tribulations, and with just three points separating them from Tayport, the fixture was obviously an important one for both sides.
Olive Bank boss Stevie McLeish was for the first time this season in a position to name an unchanged starting XI, going with the men who had helped ‘Burgh to a 4-1 home win over Fauldhouse United a week earlier.
Tayport had several early openings, but the visitors were gifted the lead just seven minutes in, Brian Martin taking advantage of great naivety on the part of the embarrassed Tayport keeper, who had placed the ball on the ground just outside his six-yard box thinking wrongly that a free-kick had been awarded.
An assistant referee had indeed raised his flag for offside but the referee hadn’t blown his whistle and Martin, aware of this, cheekily stepped in to take the ball from the keeper’s feet and direct it into the empty net!
That was all that separated the teams for well over half an hour, but Burgh doubled their lead at a vital point just two minutes before half-time when Jackie Myles and Sean Paliczka linked up well, the former playing in his team-mate from the left touchline and the experienced Paliczcka doing well to make space and get in the shot which beat Cargill in the home goal.
Two goals up as the second half got under way, Burgh replaced Kevin Bracks and Jed Davie with Jack Wright and Steven Thomson and weren’t at any point under any real threat from their hosts. Sean Jamieson added a third goal from the left of the penalty area on 61 minutes as the pressure told on the home defence, and any remaining doubt about the outcome finally disappeared four minutes later when Jamieson’s cross from the left was directed into his own net by Port defender Kay.
Tayport looked demoralised and things got no better for them when they conceded a fifth goal with quarter of an hour left – keeper Cargill, way off his line, made it easy for Paliczka to notch his second of the afternoon, chipping the ball over him from outside the penalty area.
Six minutes from time, Paliczka completed his hat-trick after a Tayport attack broke down and Burgh countered – with the home defence all at sea, the Burgh striker cut in from the left before sliding the ball home for the final goal of what was effectively a rout.
The three points lifted Burgh into seventh spot in what looks set to be an exceptionally competitive Superleague, two straight wins putting them in a decent position considering the issues they have had to deal with.
They break from league business on Saturday and welcome Kirkcaldy YM to Olive Bank for a Fife & Lothians Cup first-round tie – the Fife outfit were in East Lothian just a couple of weeks ago when they lost 4-2 at Tranent Juniors in a South Division fixture, and earned plaudits for a positive approach to a game in which they twice lead, but it’s difficult to foresee anything other than a home win.