AFTER winning their first five home league games in very comfortable fashion, Tranent had dropped four points in their previous two Foresters Park outings on the back of 1-1 draws.
On the face of it, the visit of county rivals Dunbar United, who also harbour promotion hopes, posed another stiff challenge – only four points separated Gary Small’s South Division leaders from their visitors. Chris Gordon and Ben Miller were restored to the starting XI, and there was a place too for latest recruit Kayne Paterson, an attacking midfielder signed from Haddington Athletic and younger brother of right-back Jamie, at the club since the summer.
Another encouraging Foresters Park crowd in attendance, despite the coldest afternoon of the season so far, saw a fairly uneventful opening spell which perhaps wasn’t surprising given what was at stake. New man Paterson had the first goal effort for Tranent but Dunbar keeper Wood made the save.
By the midway point in the first half there hadn’t been much between the teams, but an injury to visiting centre half Common meant Dunbar were forced into a change and within not much more than five minutes Tranent found themselves two goals to the good.
There were 28 minutes played when debutant Paterson sent in a speculative cross-cum-shot from the left which ended up in the net, and two minutes later Kenny Fisher played in Kenny McMillan, whose shot from the edge of the box found its way to the back of the net. McMillan could have added a third a couple of minutes later when Ben Miller set him up with a great through ball, but he squandered the opening.
Seven minutes from the interval, Tranent looked to be in an extremely comfortable position when McMillan scored again, snapping up the chance when Stephen Manson’s shot rebounded off the post. The striker could have completed a second hat-trick of the season just before half time but put his shot over the bar. Regardless, Tranent could be happy with a 3-0 scoreline going in at the break.
Dunbar again put in a lot of effort in the second half but although they made things difficult for their hosts they rarely troubled Sinclair Inglis in the home goal. Their keeper Wood did well to save Paterson’s deflected shot five minutes after the restart and he was again to the fore midway through the half when he first denied sub Jamie Beaton then top scorer Kenny Fisher in quick succession.
The longer the game wore on, the more it looked as if Tranent would have to make do with their three first-half goals; however, with four minutes to play, they added a fourth when another substitute, Hamish Hunter, took his time in rounding Wood before directing the ball into the goal.
Tranent can be well satisfied with this result, which strengthens their position at the top of the table. They’ll be interested to hear how Dunbar get on this week when they take on second-placed Blackburn United, but their focus is on an East of Scotland Cup second-round tie in Perth against strong opposition in Premier League leaders Jeanfield Swifts.
Jeanfield have yet to taste defeat in the league and held Superleague contenders Bonnyrigg Rose until late on in their Scottish Junior Cup tie last week – Tranent will need to be at their best to compete, though the fact they did so against Auchinleck Talbot recently will help their cause psychologically. Kayne Paterson is cup tied, having played for Haddington at Newburgh in the first round of the competition.