30th April 2019. Musselburgh Athletic v Camelon Juniors 2-0

After a day house sitting around while plumbers installed a new bathroom in my oldest sons flat I felt I needed to get out in the fresh air. I decided to head to Olivebank in Musselburgh for this East of Scotland League Cup tie. Given the qualifying stages were played in August it seemed a bit strange that we were only now getting to the business end of the competition. Caught a 26 bus at Haymarket and arrived in Musselburgh at 18.25 for the 18.45 kickoff. The ground is only a short walk from the High Street and I paid £6 admission as I picked up a copy of the free match programme. The ground has had a lot of work done to it since I was first there around almost twenty-five years ago to watch my middle son, Craig, play in a juvenile up final. There is now a fresh clean toilet block and also a refurbished dressing room area with public access to an indoor cafe.

This was the first time this season I had seen both Musselburgh and Camelon and I would admit to knowing next to nothing about both sides. Both teams have finished in the top five of their respective conferences and willl therefore compete in next seasons East of Scotland ‘Super’  League. I know striker Mattu King has been with Musselburgh for a number of years and scores a lot of goals. He also holds the record for the most appearances for Musselburgh. On speaking to a Camelon fan I found out Keiran Anderson was their top scorer with forty-five goals in all competitions and to quote “he does we score tap-ins”. Centre forward Alan Sneddon is in the Navy, based in Portsmouth, and also plays for the Navy. His job means if he is injured he receives great medical attention from naval doctors.

The game started evenly with the first chance coming to Cameron after around twenty minutes. Anderson ran onto a long ball but as he went to shoot keeper Ali Adams dived at his feet just inside the penalty area to block the shot. The ball rebounded to Alan Docherty on the left wing and he ran towards the byeline as Adams rushed back to his goal. Docherty tried a shot from around six yards out, but well wide of the goal, however the ball hit the post and bounced out of play. Musselburgh took the lead after twenty three minutes. Nathan Evans had a good run to the bye-line and cut the ball back to King on the edge of the six yard box. The striker had no trouble in knocking the ball into the net. Ten minutes from halftime Micael Deland had a good run down the left from full-back. He cut inside to the edge of the Camelon penalty area but his shot flew past the post. Just before half-time Anderson was booked for a stupid offence. He clearly fouled a Musselburgh player on the far touchline but when the referee blew his whistle he kicked the ball away and received a yellow card for dissent. 

The yellow card could have been costly minutes into the second half. John McManus cleared the ball from around six yards out near the left hand touchline. Anderson came running in late and caught McManus after the ball had been cleared. The Musselburgh crowd were screaming for a second yellow card and a subsequent red but the referee contented himself with a warning to the striker. Just after the hour mark Musselburgh had another good chance. Evans chased a long ball and keeper Dean Shaw ran out to clear. He mis-kicked the ball which flew up into the air. As the keeper rushed back to his goal defenders moved back in an attempt to clear. However the ball came down before any defender could get there. Evans attempted a volley as the ball came down but he also mis-kicked and the ball went out for a goal-kick. Musselburgh scored a second after seventy-one minutes. A corner from Conor Thomson was half cleared by Camelon's Ryan Lockie. The ball went back towards Thomson who had followed the ball into the penalty area. Lockie took a running jump towards Thomson with the ball still in the air in an attempt to head clear and knocked the forward to the ground. The referee awarded a penalty and Thomson struck the ball low into the net to give Musselburgh a 2-0 lead. The game was then over a Cemelon did not really threaten to score although Musselburgh had a final chance to score in almost the last minute. Evans again ran onto the ball but an excellent tackle from Don Morrison took the power out of his shot allowing Shaw an easy save.

After the final whistle I walked back to the High Street and caught a 124 back into Edinburgh. Stupidly I got off the bus in Princes Street rather than continue to the terminus in Semple Street, a short walk from home. A no.4 bus came along in minutes and I caught that to Haymarket. After a slightly longer walk than necessary I was home by 21.45.

Teams
Musselburgh Athletic: Adams, Reid, Whyte, Myles, McManus, M. Moffat, Thomson, King, Deland, Gregory, Evans.
Subs: Gillan,McNaughton, McBey
Camelon Juniors:  Shaw, McKenzie, Locke, Don Morrison, Skinner, Kay, David Morrison, Herron, Sneddon, Anderson, Docherty.
Subs: