Star kick off in style

Nick Ramsey and Kristoffer Mack scored for Musselburgh and an unfortunate own goal by David Swan completed the scoring for Lothian Star.

With both Edinburgh East Division sides fairly evenly matched, Keith Anderson’s heroics in the centre of Star’s defence ensured that they held on to their advantage.

Star opened the scoring after 14 minutes. Daniel O’Neil launched a long ball from the half way line, finding Neil on the right of the penalty area. Musselburgh goalkeeper Andrew Dorran committed himself to the ball and Neil played a low cross past Dorran. With Swan and Star striker Ross Mormick challenging each other, Swan’s slide tackle could only divert the ball into his own net.

The home side replied to Star’s opener immediately. Scott Gourlay’s through ball found Ramsey who smashed the ball past Star goalkeeper Derek Robertson into the top right corner.

After the equaliser, Lothian Star started to assert some dominance over Musselburgh. In the 26th minute, a long ball from Robertson found its way all the way through to Neil who opened his account by powering the ball into the right of the net from 12 yards out.

And Star extended their lead to 3-1 on the hour mark. A poor clearance found Andrew Neil and his low shot nestled into the bottom left corner of the net. Swan, the Windsor defender, then saw his day get worse on 75 minutes. Windsor failed to clear a corner and Swan lunged into Mormick in the left of the penalty area. Referee Allan Marr pointed to the spot and Neil stepped up to place his penalty to the left of Dorran.

It was only when the game got out of reach that Musselburgh managed to put any sustained pressure on Star. Peter Coyle tackled Liam Thompson and surged down the right wing into the area, only to see his shot skimmed past the left post. But Musselburgh pulled a goal back in the 85th minute. The Star defence cleared a long ball into the path of Mack. He completed the scoring with a placed finish from 12 yards out.

The goal came too late for Musselburgh Windsor and Lothian Star held onto the win.

Mark Finlayson, the Musselburgh Windsor coach, felt that the team did not perform to their true ability. He said: “We played poorly. We’ve had a good pre-season but we started a bit slow. They were a bit too physical for us. Hopefully we can finish strongly this season. We definitely want to be in the top half of the league.”

Lothian Star coach, Jason Sunshine, was pleased with his team’s display. He said: “The game went well, especially considering they had a full team. I think we can challenge for the league with the team we’ve got.”

Lothian Star: Derek Robertson, Daniel O’Neil, Scott Neil, Keith Anderson, Ross Jenkinson, Liam Thompson, Craig Hogg, John Murray, Ross Mormick, Andrew Neil, Sean Baillie, Jamie Ross, Neil Murray.

Musselburgh Windsor: Andrew Dorran, Scott Boyle, Daniel Simpson, Peter Coyle, Scott Gourlay, Mark Finlayson, David Swan, Kristoffer Mack, Stuart Cosgrove, Nick Ramsey, Adam Cohen, Paul Finlayson, Grant Marshall, James Carvile, Michael Slater.