FIVE weeks on from their previous competitive outing, a 3-0 Superleague defeat at Bo’ness United, Musselburgh Athletic were back in action on Saturday when they played their Scottish Junior Cup fourth-round tie against Rossvale at the second time of asking, wintry weather the previous weekend putting paid to the first attempt to play the tie, even though Rossvale’s shared home of New Petershill Park boasts an artificial playing surface.

Olive Bank boss Stevie McLeish knew his side would face a challenging 90 minutes against a team flying high at the top of their division with 10 wins from 11 games, who included in their ranks 40-year-old Robbie Winters, the well-known former professional with a full international cap to his name.

McLeish was without suspended Ally Adams, the goalkeeper having been red-carded at Bo’ness, and so 18-year-old Michael Lee was pitched in for his junior debut. Also playing his first competitive match in junior football was midfielder Darren Smith, 34, recently recruited after leaving Stirling Albion, while Frenchman Ludovic Dolland was named among the substitutes.

The club have lost the services of ex-Haddington Athletic striker Steven MacDonald after a fleeting spell at Olive Bank – the 25-year-old is now in New Zealand and plans to settle in the Antipodes.

The visitors started encouragingly and were ahead with less than five minutes played when Steven Thomson netted for the third match in succession, cutting inside from the left before curling a fine effort beyond home keeper Bowskill.

Burgh were pulling the strings in the early stages and Smith, Ewan Ralton, Jackie Myles and Jordyn Sheerin were the pick of the bunch as they probed for another goal. Rossvale, however, began to claw their way into the game and they’d spurned several openings before equalising on 26 minutes when McDermott headed home from a corner amid a busy goalmouth.

Within a minute, though, Musselburgh were back in front, a short corner setting up top scorer Sheerin to find the net with a fine finish from a tight angle on the left.

A little over 10 minutes later, the home defence was again left feeling a little sheepish after Thomson claimed Burgh’s third with a super strike, the angle again a difficult one but from the right of goal this time after he’d played a neat one-two with Sheerin. That put the visitors 3-1 up at the break and looking reasonably comfortable, though Rossvale had shown at times they were a capable outfit.

The hosts’ spirits lifted just two minutes after the restart when Winters netted from the penalty spot after he’d been fouled by Brian Martin, and they were ecstatic five minutes later when their veteran striker set up Team to equalise.

Defensive lessons hadn’t been learnt, however, and as at their previous equaliser they allowed Musselburgh to restore their lead within a minute, Sheerin latching on to a long ball and rounding Bowskill before directing the ball home.

Rossvale kept fighting, though, and their pace in attack caused the Burgh defence problems – young keeper Lee was more active than his home counterpart as the hosts sought another equaliser.The tie remained on edge until the very end, when Musselburgh were granted an opportunity for a fifth goal from the penalty spot and Sheerin completed his hat-trick.

Rossvale could hold their heads high after a battling performance, while from a Musselburgh perspective the main thing was that they’d emerged victorious despite a less than stellar performance. One man who drew praise from the manager was debutant Smith, who excelled in midfield for an hour before understandably tiring.

Now it’s back to Superleague business for Burgh, who on Saturday entertain Bonnyrigg Rose at Olive Bank. They won the reverse fixture at New Dundas Park in the season’s opening fixture, but since then, of course, Davie McGlynn has switched sides – after a decade in charge at Musselburgh he took over as Bonnyrigg boss in September and has them performing well; the Rose also made the fifth round of the Scottish Cup courtesy of a 4-1 home win over Bellshill Athletic.

McGlynn’s return to his old stomping ground for the first time is just one of a variety of talking points surrounding a very interesting fixture, with the likely result a very hard one to call.