Musselburgh went into their fourth Superleague fixture at Newtongrange last Wednesday evening very much as underdogs – no points from their opening three games had left them at the foot of the table, while joint-top Star had six points to their name.

There were fully five changes to the XI which had started the 2-0 home defeat by Hill of Beath Hawthorn four days previously.

Sean Jamieson’s ambitious 30-yard effort against his former club was off-target early on for Burgh, who were lucky not to find themselves behind on five minutes when Motion struck the bar.

The early exchanges saw little between the sides overall, and Musselburgh certainly didn’t look short on confidence. With 21 minutes played they were awarded a penalty when Jamieson was brought down in the box by Tulloch, and skipper Jackie Myles stepped up to send the ball past ex-Burgh keeper Kieron Renton and put his team in front.

The goal stung Newtongrange into action and the remainder of the first half saw them come close on several occasions – Murray Jackson in the Burgh goal brought off good saves from Currie and ex-Olive Bank team-mate Matti King, who in another instance looked certain to score but Kevin McLeish somehow got back to clear off the line; Motion shot wide when in a good position and hit the post with a decent swerving effort. At the close of the opening 45 minutes, however, Musselburgh were still in front courtesy of Myles’ penalty.

The Star continued to press in search of an equaliser from the start of the second half – Cropley, Thomson and McManus all had efforts on goal within minutes of play resuming. Jackson then saved well from King, who hit the post from the resulting corner – it looked as though the pressure must surely tell eventually. Thomson hit the crossbar from 30 yards as Star again came close, but Jackson and the Burgh defence were increasingly determined not to concede and as frustration crept into the home ranks their task became that little bit easier.

It wasn’t to be Newtongrange’s night in front of goal and so it was that Musselburgh held on for their first points of the season when few had given them even a faint chance beforehand.

On Saturday, manager Stevie McLeish took his team to another tough venue in Sauchie’s Beechwood Park, with three changes this time to the starting XI – goalkeeper Jackson had picked up an injury and was replaced by the experienced Ross Combe, acquired on loan from Easthouses Lily.

There wasn’t an awful lot between the teams before two Musselburgh goals inside a minute on the half-hour put them in a comfortable position – firstly Jed Davie’s through ball found Steven Thomson, who passed to Jamieson in a dangerous position from which he netted his first competitive Burgh goal. Then a Sauchie probe towards the visitors’ penalty area was cut out and a long ball down the right found Jamieson, who outpaced the home defence before slotting the ball home from an angle.

Right on half-time, a third goal put McLeish’s men in a great position, Davie taking the credit after a free-kick broke to him in a good position.

Sean Paliczka and Jamieson both hit the post as Musselburgh threatened to run riot, but Sauchie pulled a goal back with an hour played courtesy of a good finish from Morgan. Eight minutes later, though, Sean Conaghan was set up by Jamieson for his first Burgh goal and, with 10 minutes, left Sean Paliczka became the third Sean to claim his first competitive counter for the club following a counter attack. The red card shown two minutes from time to Kameran Tufail failed to take the shine off a great result for Musselburgh.

After two great away wins, Burgh return to Olive Bank tomorrow for the visit of Superleague leaders Bo’ness United and, with confidence restored, it should be an interesting affair indeed.