MUSSELBURGH played a Scottish Junior Cup tie at New Petershill Park in Springburn, north Glasgow, for the second time in 2015 on Saturday.
Stevie McLeish’s men were there in January to face tenants Rossvale, winning 5-3 in the fourth round, and returned to face a Petershill outfit reeling from a 5-1 reverse against Pollok.
In contrast to Burgh, who went into the third round tie on the back of an eight-game winning streak which had taken them to joint top in the Superleague table, Petershill occupied a relegation spot in the West’s top tier. Familiar with the modern facility’s much-maligned artificial playing surface, McLeish was confident his men could keep their winning run going, especially given fine performances on similar pitches at Kelty and Broxburn in preceding weeks.
Brian Martin and Scott Gibson returned to the starting XI, strengthening an in-form team who had every reason to feel they could progress to the fourth round.
A good travelling support saw their team start the tie in positive fashion and home defender Chisholm almost scored an own goal in the third minute, heading past his keeper before rescuing the situation, racing to the goal-line to hook the ball away. Eighteen-goal striker Sean Jamieson then beat two defenders en route to goal, only for McNeill in the Peasy goal to block his path.
Petershill had clearly done their homework and did their utmost to stifle Musselburgh’s creativity, breaking up play at every opportunity and generally slowing things down as much as possible. They did, though, create several scoring opportunities, but found John Dodds in the Burgh goal in excellent form.
Half an hour in, Daw came close for Petershill but his shot was deflected by Steven Swaney. Chances weren’t too plentiful before the break, the half unsurprisingly ending goalless, though Petershill’s Craig came close on a couple of occasions late in the half.
Daly headed over for the hosts not long into the second half and on the hour he dealt the visitors a blow when he was allowed far too much space to rise at the back post and head in from a corner. Petershill could have had a second goal but for Dodds saving from Bradley and in the end, despite their best efforts, Musselburgh couldn’t find a way past keeper McNeill, who did brilliantly to save a close-range Kevin Bracks volley.
Burgh kept pressing when they could and came within a whisker of the equaliser in the last seconds when Steven Thomson’s free-kick from the edge of the ‘D’ was pushed onto the inside of the post by McNeill.
A disappointing exit from the competition, then, for Burgh against a well-organised Petershill, who were delighted to see off their opponents’ challenge. It’s the first time since 2009/10 Musselburgh haven’t been involved in the Scottish Junior Cup past the new year, but they have plenty to focus on as they look to build on their recent fine run.
This weekend’s fixture card has no place for them, however, so they wait until next Saturday for their next competitive outing.