A GROWING self-belief is key to Musselburgh’s upturn in form, which has lifted them off the bottom of the Premiership, according to head coach Graeme Paterson.

The Stoneyhill side have spent much of the season looking up the table but victory over Glasgow Hawks on Saturday has moved them above Edinburgh Academical and within striking distance of Jed-Forest and Glasgow Hawks.

The head coach said: “Coming off the bottom is huge.

"You cannot help but be swayed by the fact you are no longer bottom of the table.

“Now, a team has to chase us down.

“There is that real element that we are now in a position where we are not getting relegated.

“We are in control of our own destiny to a certain degree.”

Edinburgh Academical have a game in hand over the East Lothian side and could leapfrog them before Christmas.

However, there is a growing confidence among Paterson’s squad that they can compete at this level.

Saturday’s 29-20 victory means Musselburgh boast a 100 per cent record against Glasgow Hawks this season.

A 27-17 win on the opening day of the season in the Scottish Cup was followed by a 32-18 triumph in the reverse league fixture in September.

The head coach said: “I wish we could play them every week!

“I think we are obviously quite similar in what we play like. It has not been runaway victories in the games, they have been fairly close.

“Maybe that confidence we got from beating them in the opening game of the season in the Scottish Cup gives us self-belief.

“We have beaten them already and there is nothing to say we cannot beat them again. “When you do it once, you naturally think you can do it again.”

Now, attention turns to a difficult home tie against league leaders Marr on Saturday.

The Ayrshire side are five points clear of Currie Chieftains at the top of the table and won the previous encounter with Musselburgh 43-16.

But Paterson felt his team were going into the game with a spring in their step.

He said: “We’ve got nothing to lose against them; that is the mindset.

“You go into the game with the confidence of having played well in the last three weeks.

“People probably see it as a Marr win every day of the week but we can go in with confidence.”