Season 2002/03
With new faces Albert McGroarty, Lee Docherty and Andy Hall on board and Chris Simpson back after a brief absence we made the short trip to Park View for the First Round League Cup tie against Fauldhouse United and, despite a solid performance, were unlucky to go out on sudden death penalties after a nil-nil draw. Our subsequent protest over the eligibility of a Fauldhouse player was dismissed on a technicality. In the league, the arrival of Peter Duncan from Linlithgow Rose as Mickey's new assistant helped propel the side into second top spot behind Tranent with one victory and two draws, striker Mark Campbell notching in each of the three games, before another draw at Haddington Athletic, and another Campbell goal, was quickly followed by our first defeat of the season at home to Harthill Royal which saw the side slip a little but still sit only four points off the top. Just six points were then earned in the subsequent five league games, including a win against rock bottom Stoneyburn at Murrayfield Park and a well earned draw at second placed Penicuik Athletic, but, with the Second Division shaping up to be the tightest in many years, the gap between ourselves and Dunbar United at the top had only increased to seven points.
The four weeks at the end of October and beginning of November also brought involvement in three different Cup ties and, after going out of the East of Scotland Cup at First Division Sauchie, things took a turn for the better with two successive trips to Fife bringing comfortable victories in the Fife & Lothians Cup and the Scottish Junior Cup over Lochore Welfare and Rosyth Recreation respectively. Back on league duty before the 3rd Round of the Junior Cup, a desperate display at Albyn Park brought a 3-0 defeat before three successive victories and four Mark Campbell goals took the side back to the fringes of the promotion race before the Winter break. On the down side though, sandwiched between those wins was a 3-2 reverse in that Scottish Cup tie at Grantown on Spey where goals from Derek Drummond and Mark Campbell weren't quite enough to edge out one of the North Region's top sides.
The resumption after the break then saw two further early Cup exits, this time from the Brown Cup at Dalkeith Thistle and then from the St Michael's Cup at Burngrange Park in a penalty shoot out. However, high scoring revenge victories in each subsequent week against the same opposition on league business, coming from behind on both occasions, coupled with a victorious comeback from two goals down at Tranent, moved the side up to third spot in the league table and to within touching distance of promotion. Next up was the journey to second placed Dunbar United for a must win game and goals from Mark Campbell and Brian Smillie, the captain's maiden strike for the club, secured a first win by the seaside for ten years to set the side up for the visit to title favourites Harthill Royal and a game that had to yield another three points. With the home side needing a point to guarantee the Second Division Championship Mark Campbell, with his 18th strike of the season, had United ahead and looking good for the second promotion spot only for a late, late equaliser against the run of play to take that possibility out of the teams hands and place it into those of others. So, the final game of the season at home to Penicuik Athletic, by then favourites to move up with Royal, needed to see a United victory and, even then, results elsewhere would have had to go the clubs way. In the event, one of the poorest performances of the season saw the side go down 1-0, although the disallowing of a perfectly good Brian Smillie goal soon after Athletic's opener perhaps sealed our fate there and then.
Season 2003/04
The opening month of the season brought an early exit from the Carlsberg League Cup at New Dundas Park where a good first half display against Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic wasn't enough to prevent a late surge taking the Super League side through to round two. In the league, a visit from Haddington Athletic on the opening day saw a nervy performance punished by the East Lothian men and a week later the trip to Albyn Park was far from rewarding when Broxburn Athletic ran in five goals to our solitary reply. However, the month did end well when Stoneyburn arrived at Murrayfield Park and Mark Campbell scored twice to end our barren run and earn the three points that kept the side just four points from the summit of the table. Campbell then went on to celebrate his 100th competitive goal for the club at Pumpherston when September duly arrived but his header wasn't enough to prevent a 2-1 defeat, although his fourth goal of the season the following week was added to by Stevie Whiteford and these two counters were enough to put a further three points on the board against Tranent. When the league leaders and the regions top scorers, Livingston United, came calling seven days later a solid defensive display was enough to earn a clean sheet and a share of the spoils in a game of very few chances. However, inconsistency reared its head again in the first week of October when perennial strugglers West Calder United lashed three past our static rearguard in the opening 45 minutes and, despite keeping the home forwards at bay in the second half, another disappointing display had marred the early months of the league campaign.
In the OVD Scottish Junior Cup the first round draw handed us a plumb home tie against ex-seniors Clydebank and in front of a 250 plus crowd Brian Smillie deservedly headed a late first half equaliser to take the tie to a replay at neutral Holm Park in Yoker. In a thriller there a week later early goals from Campbell and Derek Drummond had the side ahead 2-1 just before the interval but an equaliser on half time was enough to eventually force the game into extra-time. To the disappointment of the home support and the delight of the band of travelling fans in a crowd of over 350, further goals from midfielder Craig Spence and substitute Lee Docherty wrapped up advancement to the second round despite the loss of a third goal late on. In that second round tie we travelled to face fellow East Region Second Division outfit Penicuik Athletic and, in front of another large gate, lead by the odd goal in three before the loss of a late equaliser forced a replay at Murrayfield that saw the men from Mid Lothian run out deserved 2-0 winners. The five weeks between late October and late November also brought elimination from two local Cup competitions, narrow home defeats to First Division powerhouses Whitburn and Super League Oakley United forcing us to bid farewell to both the Brown and Fife & Lothian's Cups at an early stage.
Back on League duty and the October defeat at West Calder United was quickly avenged with a convincing 3-0 home victory. Three successive away games out east then followed where the concession of another late goal at Dalkeith Thistle saw two points thrown away and all three points were shipped at Penicuik as our third clash with the Penicuik Park men in five weeks once again failed to bring any tangible reward. However, in the final game before the brief Winter break a welcome return to form saw two goals from Docherty help inspire the side to a 4-1 victory at rain sodden Haddington Athletic. Although a 2-1 away victory at Livingston United on the resumption of the league campaign in January then took the side back to the fringes of the promotion race, a two goal home defeat at the hands of Dalkeith Thistle, the Kings Park mens first away win of the season, just about ended all hopes of moving up a division and a Penicuik Athletic equaliser four minutes into injury time a week later all but confirmed we would remain in the Second Division for another season. As if to rub salt into the open wound, a resurgent Tranent then avenged their early season defeat here at Murrayfield Park with a resounding 4-1 win in the return fixture.
After a free week the side then succumbed 5-0 to Linlithgow Rose in the second round of the St. Michael's Cup in what was to be the first of two local cup ties against the Super League outfit. In the second of those ties a much improved performance in the East of Scotland Cup saw new signing Paul Wynne save a penalty and Campbell hit the base of a post with a fine effort only for the game to end in another Rose victory but by the narrower margin of two goals to nil. Some little revenge of our own was then earned back in the league in a 2-2 home draw with Second Division champions Broxburn Athletic before two opportunist Docherty strikes earned all three points in a 2-1 win at bottom of the table Stoneyburn. The final league game of the season brought Pumpherston to Murrayfield Park where a Campbell equaliser wasn't enough to prevent a 2-1 defeat that secured the visitors elevation to the First Division.
The end of season Supplementary Cup saw the side drawn in Section One alongside First Division sides Whitburn and Harthill Royal and fellow Second Division outfit Stoneyburn but five points from the six games weren't enough to secure qualification to the knock out stages.
