The Musselburgh Season Review
updated 30/06/08
Welcome to the review of the season. What a season! The most successful for the club in nearly 100 years. On this page we will look at the season in both league and cups and look at all aspects of the club on and off the park.
PLAYERS - new players that joined through the season or that played their first game for the club , Ronnie McPherson, Darrell Johnston, Brian Murray, Martin Murphy, Matti King, Craig McManus, CJ Oasazowa, Scott Devlin
Players who will not be at the club for the new season: Kenny Munro (Penicuik), Darrell Johnston
Season record Played 45, Won 25 , Drawn 9 lost 11 Goals scored 102 Goals lost 78 yellow cards 124 , red cards 25
In order to give us the best possible push for our aim the super league the team used the league cup, 6 matches at the start of the season as warm up matches and although we suffered a heavy defeat to Penicuik we did play some great football in the other five games. Our group was won by Newtongrange winning all 6 games and after seeing them play well in pre season games they were going to be our main challengers allong with Bo'ness. Another good thing to come out of one of the games (Tranent) was the performance of players against us. One in particular CJ Osazowa stood out. With our strike force good on the ground this tall strong and powerful striker gave us another option and CJ was signed from Tranent shortly after, scoring 11 goals for the season. In the report for the game against Tranent i felt that we sat back a bit and if we wanted to do well we would have to keep playing and scoring goals as better teams would put us under alot more pressure, unfortunately this was to be the case as thoughout the season we dropped points from winning positions and that as well as discipline stopped us from our ultimate aim. The first game of the season gives a accurate discription of our league campaign. 1-0 and 3-2 up and only came away with a point against a poor team, also that day 4 yellow cards and 1 red. Defeat to Dundee North End and a amazing game against Newtongrange where the refferee took centre stage. Adding on nearly 10 minutes and giving both sides yellow cards galore the drama that was caused certainly turned much of the huge crowd away, shaking their heads at what they had just witnessed.
This certainly gave Musselburgh a boost as they took apart unbeaten Bo'ness at Olivebank. Although the 3-2 seems close in all honestly Musselburgh were that day in a different league and certainly this was backed up by 3 points picked up in Rosyth. However the next game was to set the club back as a 4-2 defeat came with 2 red cards and 5 yellows. The next two games certainly were exciting Dundonald away in the league and Vale of Clyde in the Scottish cup - both teams on form and doing well. Musselburgh scored 10 goals in total 7 against Dundonald and lost only 3 and won both games however again despite this the games were refereed by the same man. In total for Musselburgh 9 yellow cards and 1 red card and for the opposition 3 reds for Dundonald and 2 for Vale of Clyde. Having watched the Vale Of Clyde game I didn't think there was a bad foul in the game but as we were to find out the referees would continue this way of dealing with games throughout the season. The next three games saw 5 sent off for Musselburgh as two league home games brought in only 1 point despite being in a position to take all 6.
On the 1st of December at a freezing cold Kelty came possibly the clubs finest hour. Away in the Scottish cup is hard enough but to a team a league above you that reached the final the year before makes it almost impossible. There were also players missing in the shape of Paul Currie and Paul Tansey was 'fit' enough only for a place on the bench. However that day a shock was sent though junior football not only in the East but in the West where people had to look again to make sure they got the result right. A superb Chris King hat-trick - probably the best goals I have ever seen and another from Craig McManus not to mention some outstanding saves from Ronnie McPherson in goal gave us a fantastic 4-2 win. Indeed the role the keeper played in this game was heavily overshadowed by the fantastic goals scored that day. To their credit the team were applauded off the park by both sets of fans and ranks amongst the best games in the clubs history.
Even a point at Armadale and a penalties defeat at Broughty couldn't dampen the memories of Kelty and a long trip to Montrose 3 days before Christmas brought a nice 3 points as a present back home with Dean Woods the difference between the two sides. A host of errors from the officals at Penicuik lead to a 2-1 defeat. A harsh red card that day was followed by a 'goal' for us that shouldn't have been, we were then robbed of two clear goals and a good penalty shot and to cap it all Penicuik struck with the last kick of the game once again though injuries and suspensions were adding up.
The new year started with a win over Rosyth Chris King again the scorer and this set us up nicely for the Scottish Cup 4th round. Saturday the 19th of Janurary was the lauch of the clubs new programme. 200 sold that day to a huge crowd and not one left behind! In the mangers notes that day David McGlynn states that 'if we can cut out the sending offs then come May we will be in the hunt for silverware'. This was to prove correct but they did it the hard way by not cutting the red cards. Indeed there were 4 booking and 1 red that day. No one had expected us to be 2-0 up going into the clsoing stages but Rob roy who were on fire in their way to the West Super league hit back with two late goals to force a replay. Three weeks later and another stunning performance where Musselburgh were the better team saw us go through on penalties. Ronnie again proving the difference between the sticks. The following week our rise to the last 16 was to finish as Glenafton some how got through. Again discipline and injuries cost us with 5 bookings and 2 red cards key injuries to Martin Murphy early on and Brian Murray didn't help. In a very close game a single strike 3 minutes from time put the home side - who had hit only one previous shot at goal was enough.
The hangover from that game though only lasted a week, but it was enough to end our chance for the league. Against a side that came back from two goals down having been beaten heavily the last few weeks Dundonald won 3-2 at Olviebank. Two booked one off for Musselburgh. After that game did come a turning point, i felt that the was a massive improvent in the discipline certainly the next 4 games didn't produce a single red card and the results were fantastic. A win at Forfar who were leading the league was followed by a win at Super league Oakley to book our place in the 1/4 final of the Fife and Lothians cup. The next two games were derbies against Penicuik at home they simply came for a point and got it. 10 players behind the ball doing all they could to stop the play. The game at Newtongrange was the most one sided game i have ever seen. Newtongrange were lost battered in a total dominant display from the visitors. Musselburgh should have been clear and out of site by half time Newtongrange looked like they wanted the game to end. However despite this they snatched a draw through a very dodgy penalty - however missed chances cost us badly that day.
At home the following week to Bo'ness CJ Osazowa was the hat trick hero but it took Ronnie McPherson to save another penalty in the shout out as Musselburgh booked another 1/4 final in the St Micheals Cup. More cup success was to follow as a five star performance in driving rain at in form Dunbar. Chris King hitting 3 goals with the perfect hat trick. Once again though the man in the middle was to totally ruin what should have been a great game of football as Camelon - on fire in the super league came to visit us in the Fife and Lothians Cup. That day another big crowd were present and in our 4th programme notes i had said the following: ' Our recent success is not only down to the management team but also the fact that we are respecting the referees' I also mentioned that whilst wrong calls were made the tend to even out. After this game though no one could hide the anger. For the first hour Musselburgh had stunned the crowd with breath taking football and although should have been 5 or 6 up a penalty was the difference when Camelon were reduced to 10 men. What happened just before half time highlighted a problem with the state of refreeing. A foul 35 yards from goal and the referee sent off our player claiming he had stopped a goal scoring chance! Another straight red followed and a penalty to Camelon the game ended with 4 red cards (3 to us) 4 bookings for us and 6 to Camelon. All the headlines were about the cards on what should have been a day for great football. That game was without doubt the worst I have seen since i started to watch Musselburgh 15 years ago. - Shocking!
The Friday night saw us again out play our opponents as the team really looked like it was taking shape but despite a brillant Chris King free kick Bo'ness sealed their route back to the superleague with 2 second half goals. Matti King got his first goal at Kinnoull and a good 3-1 victory another heavy win 5-1 against Dundee North End who were going for the promotion was ruined by two late sending offs (5-1 up). Our game on the Wednesday had to be abandoned after a clash left Brian Murray with a serious injury, thankfully he recovered and returned amazingly within 3 weeks. A picky ref and a defensive Arniston gave our last league game a flat feel a 1-1 draw is all that was gained.
Thursday the 15th March was another great night as Super league team and Scottish cup winners Bathgate thought that they could simply walk over us. They left soundly beaten and ended up losing for several weeks afterwards as Matti King struck two good goals in a 2-1 win. That game got us into the semi final and three days later we were in another. Matti King coming on in the second half an five minutes later 1-0 was turned into 3-1 as Musselburgh upped the tempo to devestating effect. Not many teams beat Bathgate Whitburn and Linlithgow in their history we managed that inside 2 weeks as Whitburn were ripped to shreds by a rampant Burgh side. The Whitburn goal keeper stopped his side being thrashed with stunning save after stunning save with wave after wave of Musselburgh attack. Chris King scored 2 but a defected goal 5 minutes from time and a disallowed goal which was not offside sent the game to penalties. Ronnie again was the difference but credit also to Paul Currie stepping up to take the winning penalty with style. Scott Devlin produced two great goals as Musselburgh gave Linlithgow a footballing lesson, playing them off the park with passing and movement first class and produceing their first clean sheet in 15 matches. Musselburgh had reached 2 cup finals and were playing some fantastic football although the media as we will read later seemed to report very negativley.
Tuesday the 3rd of June at Broxburn a baking hot day didn't show the best of the two teams. A tight game with few chances - probably the best falling to Musselburgh but with ten men for the whole second half the game went to penalties. Ronnie McPherson the penalty king saving three kicks but credit to Wes Mitchell scoring our first, Brian Murray scoring after the last two efforts had been missed and Matti King scoring the winner, a real team effort and cup celebrations were fantastic as the team realized their success. This clearly gave them a boost as five days later Musselburgh made history winning the St Micheals cup their second of the season - the first time this had been done for nearly 100 years, in doing so they beat Arniston Rangers keeping their 3rd clean sheet in a row and with it our most succesful year in history. Top scorer Chris King with the late strike caping a good season for himself.
To end a long season 10 games unbeaten with 3 clean sheets in the last three is no mean feet. The work that the managenent team and players have done to achieve this is amazing. Certainly without wanting to ruin it, the discipline has cost us the league there is no doubt about it. The points dropped from winning positions have played a part, but we have gained points from losing positions as well. The yellow and red cards were a problem but i think this has and will continue to improve. We are not the only club that has had problems in this area and we have not been at fault for all of them however lets be clear for us to go up this season we must half the yellows we have received and get NO players sent off. Without a doubt the Kelty Hearts game was a fantastic day for the club, after that game I felt that we could beat anyone and the confidence with which we played with afterwards was great. However beating Bathgate, Whitburn and Linlithgow was without overdoing it simply the best sequence of results the club could ever have achieved, there have been other highlights the away form and the manner in which we have played has been fantastic to watch.
The downsides of the season have not been related to on the park, only the Camelon game and the Penicuik away game have been dissapointing and that is more to do with officals than performances. Off the park the coverage the club has received in the media has been shocking. Anyone disagree with that can tell me what the Bathgate 1/4final game was if they didnt go they would have no idea that the game was played and what the score was, there was not a mention of it in the Evening News - a highly dissapointing paper, and as for the other papers you wonder if they go to the games. But this isn't the worse feature of the coverage. Whitburn game: headline Whitburn lose on penalties, nothing about Musselburgh's attacking play, nothing about a lower league team playing their Super league opponents off the park, 5 lines in the paper and not even true Whitburn 'took the lead' - not at the game i went to. Linlithgow game - headline was about Linlithgow beaten because they were tired and because one player had played well. Utter rubbish. They were trounced by a team performance that was simply better than theirs. Tired I think Musselburgh had played Linlithgow 3 days after a tough away tie at Whitburn. As for their coverage of fixtures with all the possible cancelations how can papers that have no interest in the local leagues cover these games when the paper is printed on a Wednesday or Thursday?
Possitives off the park have been the dramatic push to give the people of Musselburgh more information. Because of the poor coverage they receive through the press it is important that they have an accurate update and trustworthy place where they can get information. That is why the clubs offical website is very important. It was started to give people confidence that there would be a game on, that it would be played at the ground that was stated and at the right time. People are now confident that when they look at the site the details are correct and accurate this is very important. The website has been possitive in two ways. It gives supporters advanced time to sort out work commitments to get to games and also gives them information changes right up to the minute. The club have noticed a rise in attendances and the aim must be to get more and more supporters through the gates. Our results for the website are around 26,000. Our targets are to hit 70,000 by the end of next season. The addition of the match programme was welcome as well. They certainly give supporters with no access to the internet information about games. Five programmes produced from the turn of the year, good fun to make and we may look again at them next season. Although for them to work we need businesses to come in and back us.
We look forward to next year but there is alot of work to do if the club is to move forward. tell your friends to come out in force as we prepare to push in the league and towards our ultimate goal the super league.
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The views given in this review are those expressed by the author and not by the club
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