MUSSELBURGH Athletic approached their 24th Superleague fixture of the season on the back of two successive away wins at Carnoustie and Kelty, both with a 2-1 scoreline, their confidence boosted after a long winless run previously.

Burgh had beaten opponents Armadale Thistle 3-2 in the reverse fixture back on August 31, and the West Lothian outfit, who had struggled to haul themselves away from the lower reaches of the table in their first season in the top tier, were thankful for the fact that St Andrews United and Tayport had accrued considerably fewer points and looked certain to finish in the bottom two spots in the Superleague table.

Armadale hadn’t won a league game for nearly two months, although Davie McGlynn’s men weren’t at full strength.

Youngster Jed Davie made his debut in midfield, while keeper Ally Adams was utilised as a makeshift forward, with Dale Cornet retaining his place in goal, and the substitutes’ bench was populated by teenagers. Michael Hunter and Michael McKenna were missing from the XI who had started at Kelty.

Adams was in action in his unfamiliar role early on and he had an early shot on the Thistle goal, but the visitors’ defence dealt with it.

On 14 minutes the same player took a pass from Ollie Russell and was only denied the opportunity to shoot by an excellent challenge by Thistle defender Brown – a minute later, however, the erstwhile goalkeeper’s snapshot struck the post.

Midway through the first half, Cornet did very well with a point-blank save to prevent Dalrymple giving the visitors the lead, and on the half-hour George Hunter came close to scoring for Burgh when his front-post flick from a corner came back off the crossbar.

In a rather scrappy affair in which neither side really got a hold in midfield, Armadale’s Robertson also had a shot saved by Cornet before Kevin McDonald almost created a goal at the other end when he forced an error from centre half McMeechan, who had the crossbar to thank for denying him the dubious credit of an own goal.

Musselburgh overall had enjoyed a bit more of the play than the visitors, and might have had the lead had their finishing been better, but Armadale were beginning to come into the game more towards the end of the goalless first half.

Feeney spurned a decent chance for Armadale early in the second half with the visitors looking lively after the restart. For Burgh, McDonald was a key player and he set up a chance for Hunter but it came to nothing, as did a fine move involving Jackie Myles and Brian Martin on the left which allowed Adams another scoring opportunity.

Burgh had their best spell of the game either side of the second half’s midway point, with Steven Thomson having several chances – unfortunately for him, he couldn’t find the target with some of them and other shots were stopped by Thistle custodian Walker.

As the clock ticked on, a goalless draw looked increasingly likely, but Armadale snatched all three points with a goal in the first minute of injury time when Mauchline cut in from the right and slammed a powerful shot past Cornet and high into the net.

With just six Superleague fixtures left to play, and no fear of relegation, boss McGlynn is likely to continue giving youngsters an opportunity between now and the end of the season.

On Saturday, Burgh are back in Fife looking to maintain their good record north of the Forth, their hosts are a Hill of Beath Hawthorn side aiming for a top-six finish.