Season 2006/07
The season opened with a repeat of our semi-final tie of a year previously against Thorniewood United in the Eddie Queen Memorial Trophy but what couldn’t be repeated was our win of 12 months ago, the side going down 4-2 in an exciting game that flowed from end to end. In the 3rd place play-off the following afternoon legs looked a bit drained as Civil Service Strollers of the East Seniors ran out reasonably comfortable winners. Friendlies against the amateurs of Brightons and Balbardie, which ended in a scoreless draw and an ultimately straightforward victory respectively, came either side of a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Lanarkshire outfit Stonehouse Violet that brought two goals for new signing Steven Manson but no happy ending. However, fellow Lanarkshire side Wishaw were put to the sword as the team discovered some much needed form and four unanswered goals to boot in what was the final pre-season friendly ahead of the serious stuff.
When the competitive action did get underway a League Cup group game at Stoneyburn was, for the most part, controlled from start to finish but a hugely debateable penalty not much more than ten minutes from the end earned the home side a barely deserved three points. Four days on and the second game of the group brought West Calder United visiting and subsequently sneaking out the door ninety minutes later discarding their masks as they went after netting a winner three minutes from time in a game they simply didn’t make an impression on until that moment. The first League game of the season at Harthill Royal’s Gibbshill Park the following Saturday started well but a rush of blood to the head of centre-half Sean Brogan ultimately cost us dear as the side were left to play with ten men for the entire second half and succumbed to the odd goal in five fully five minutes into injury time. Back on League Cup duty, Stoneyburn arrived for the return group fixture sitting joint top of the section and looking to put Blackburn out of contention and managed just that, scoring a late winner after Fraser Roy had levelled an earlier strike from the visitors. Despite this defeat rendering the return game at West Calder United meaningless in terms of qualification the side put up a more than spirited show and dominated the home team for long spells, particularly in the second half after the introduction of Alan Brown, but for the second game in succession the odd goal in three favoured our opponents.
Seven days later and September brought an almost identical performance, this time at Dunbar United, where two goals were all but thrown away before the side took a vice like grip on proceeedings and the home team all but disappeared as an attacking force, but a missed penalty and two efforts against the woodwork ensured our luck would not change on the east coast as we slipped to another 2-1 defeat. However, the long overdue win was finally recorded a week later in what was our third game in twenty eight days against Stoneyburn and Murrayfield Park witnessed a Steph McCardie goal earn United all three league points. An early Steven Manson goal at Edinburgh United in the next league outing was then enough to secure a point in the capital.
These four points heralded the start of a thirteen game run in which seven victories and three draws were recorded, including a resounding 5-2 revenge win over Dunbar United in a 1st Round Brown Cup tie. Progress in the Fife & Lothian's Cup was also made when Lochore Welfare were dispossed of in the 2nd Round a little more comfortably than the 3-2 scoreline suggested. Early success in the national competition, the Scottish Junior Cup, was also a part of this upturn in fortunes, Ayrshire side Muirkirk being dispatched by the odd goal in five in a 1st Round tie that should really have been put out of sight long before a late goal from the visitors made for a nervy closing minute or two. The 2nd Round brought yet more Ayrshire visitors, and from a league above Muirkirk too. However, a superb Fraser Roy first half hat-trick added to David Fowler's early opener and sent the side surging through to a 3rd Round tie against West Region Super League side Kilsyth Rangers. The tie at Duncansfield Park in North Lanarkshire witnessed a truly cracking Paddy Donnelly goal in the first half and was all but won going into the second minute of injury time before a galling, last gasp strike hauled the home side level at 3-3. This late, late equaliser came back to haunt seven days later when an early Kilsyth counter was the only goal of a replay that United pushed hard in late on but couldn't salvage. This spell of Cup football was interspersed with the bread and butter of league competition and a narrow win at Dalkeith Thistle proceeded disappointing defeats at the hands of high flying Sauchie and a defensively resolute Broxburn Athletic. However, a fine draw at then league leaders Newtongrange Star after being a goal behind at the break was followed up by a comfortable 5-1 victory at home against a struggling Livingston United before an enforced hibernation due to the miserable mid-winter weather, broken only by a 1-0 defeat to a last minute goal at new league leaders Haddington Athletic on the last weekend of 2006, saw the side sit out three successive Saturdays.
The first game of 2007 saw the team miss out on progress in the newly enlarged East of Scotland Cup, going down 2-0 to Sauchie, while February and March were no kinder in terms of Cup results, Arniston Rangers scoring a late equaliser in the Second Round of the Brown Cup to force the tie to a penalty shoot out which they won and Oakley United taking advantage of an early goalkeeping error to scrape home 1-0 in the Third Round of the Fife & Lothian's Cup. Equally disappointing was the abandonment of the league game at Fauldhouse United where goals from David Fowler and Sean Brogan counted for naught when a fine performance was wiped from the record books after home substitute Barry Fergus sustained a nasty injury which lead to the game being brought to a premature end with little more than eleven minutes left to play. As miserable weather continued to claim postponement after postponement other league games that got underway, and that actually finished, saw Dalkeith Thistle beaten 3-1 despite an eccentric refereeing performance which culminated in two United players being sent-off and a 1-0 lead at West Calder United lost late on in a game that eventually ended all square. A 3-1 reverse at home to Tranent then brought March to a disappointing end.
April began in equally disappointing fashion when a 2-0 league defeat at home to Haddington Athletic was quickly followed by our departure from the final Cup competition of the season four days later, going down 2-0 at Armadale Thistle as the midweek fixtures began. This reversal heralded a period of five games in just thirteen days that saw victory at Stoneyburn and a draw at home to Fauldhouse United mixed in with a home defeat at the hands of Pumpherston and a 4-2 capitulation at Livingston United who were winning their first game of the season. However, three successive home games garnered five important points as April gave way to May, draws against Harthill Royal and Edinburgh United being trumped by a victory against West Calder United that was sandwiched in between. This undefeated run continued and was stretched to seven games with a 3-1 midweek victory at promotion contenders Pumpherston and a 1-0 win at Tranent the following midweek, triumphs that book ended a 1-1 draw at Broxburn Athletic on the Saturday. The following Saturday, though, brought the visit of eventual champions Newtongrange Star who stormed to a 3-0 half time lead and held on comfortably to the final whistle before, four days later, we travelled to their nearest challengers Sauchie and, with a heavy injury list taking it's toll, succumbed by four goals to nil with a side peppered with trialists. Confidence dented, a better performance at Fauldhouse United in the rearranged game that should never have been still couldn't prevent a quite undeserved defeat and the season was brought to a close when Dunbar United came calling and left town on the right side of a five goal thriller, bringing to an end an altogether frustrating and disappointing season.
Season 2007/08
The squad was reshaped during the close season with Peter Lynch joining from Fauldhouse United, Lee Docherty and Connor McQuade from Sauchie and Calum Tevendale stepping up from the U19’s, replacing the likes of Fraser Roy, Stevie Barnes and brothers Chris and Paddy Donnelly who had all moved onto pastures new. The Eddie Queen Memorial Trophy at Oakley in July offered a first glimpse of some of these new men as the side went down 3-1 to Thorniewood United but recovered well the following day to win by the odd goal in seven against East Senior outfit Civil Service Strollers. The following weekend brought some old faces back to Murrayfield Park as Steph McCardie’s Testimonial pitted the present United squad against a Veterans side packed with experience and it proved a worthwhile exercise as new strikers Andy McQuillan and Peter Lynch both got on the scoresheet ahead of the final friendly against Balabardie Vale amateurs which saw a cohesive performance rewarded with five unanswered goals.
When the real stuff began a week later West Calder United arrived to open League Cup Section Two and were dispatched by a last minute Peter Lynch goal before a midweek trip to Harthill Royal saw a freak goal win it for the home side despite a late rally. After a postponement at Stoneyburn saw the side kicking their heels the following Saturday, two successive home games against the sides vying for qualification from the group firstly saw a decent performance against Super League side Whitburn go unrewarded as two own goals undid a lot of good work before a late winner earned a strong looking Fauldhouse United outfit a deserved win and advancement to the semi-finals of the competition. Two days later a Monday evening kick-off for the rearranged game at Stoneyburn's Beechwood Park saw the side twice come from a goal behind to earn a 2-2 draw and fourth spot in the group.
The League campaign kicked-off the following Saturday and a David Fowler goal looked to have won a share of the spoils at Dalkeith Thistle only for a debatable, last minute penalty to hand the points to the Mid Lothian outfit. Two successive home defeats then brought further disappointment, first at the hands of Broxburn Athletic who raced into a three goal lead in the opening half hour or so to ensure that no more scoring earned them a deserved victory before two second half Dunbar United penalties consigned the side to a 3-1 reverse. A first league point was then put on the board a fortnight later when four goals were shared with Fauldhouse United at before another blank was drawn in a 2-0 reverse in the capital against Edinburgh United. However, all three points were deservedly claimed when Tranent were the visitors on the last Saturday in October, Andy McQuillan with the solitary goal in a game that might have seen the side chalk up considerably more.
Sandwiched between that home draw with Fauldhouse and the defeat at Paties Road in Edinburgh was our first round Scottish Junior Cup tie with West Region Super League First Division outfit Maryhill and, after a pretty forgettable stalemate at Murrayfield Park, the replay at Lochburn Park produced an exhilarating 2-2 draw that took the tie to penalties. Despite holding the advantage at 3-2 we eventually succumbed 4-3 when our final two spot kicks were missed and the Glasgow side advanced to the second round.
Back on League duty, Dalkeith Thistle were trounced 4-0 when they came calling in early November but the following weekend brought a comprehensive defeat at Harthill Royal where three goals in the last four minutes allowed the home side to run out slightly flattering winners by six goals to one. A series of missed chances was the story of the afternoon seven days later but, eventually, a last minute Andy McQuillan goal deservedly earned the side all three points at Stoneyburn before the final Saturday in November brought progression to the Third Round of the Fife & Lothian's Cup when Fife outfit Steelend Victoria were edged out by three goals to two after having lead 2-0 early on. A fifth win in six games was then recorded as December arrived, West Calder United travelling to Murrayfield Park and, despite scoring first, finding themselves to be second best on a bitterly cold day that saw Blackburn equalise and eventually go on to find the net on two further occasions before the final whistle was blown. As the weather worsened and games began to fall foul of both rain and frost, only two more were squeezed in before the New Year but they produced another two victories to hoist the team into the top six, a convincing 5-0 home trouncing of Stoneyburn and a hard earned 2-1 win at then league leaders Broxburn Athletic.
It wasn't until the third weekend of 2008 that the side found themselves back in action but there was no apparent rustiness and a trip down to the east coast and to Dunbar United yielded a 2-0 win and a fifth consecutive league victory that saw the Seasiders leapfrogged into fifth place as the team moved to within four points of the top. However, after another two weekends of postponements, a return trip to the seaside three weeks later, this time in the last sixteen of the Fife & Lothian's Cup, saw the side battle back from a goal behind twice only to just fail to do so a third time in a narrow 3-2 reverse. Seven days later though, and a third successive trip to East Lothian brought another haul of maximum points when a resilient performance at Haddington Athletic saw two goals in the last six minutes keep the side apace with the leaders at the summit of the South Division.
Four weeks of enforced absence as further postponements wreaked havoc in the central belt were then brought to an end, along with our East of Scotland Cup prospects, when Premier League side Rosyth won 1-0 at Murrayfield Park in March and a 3-0 reverse at Sauchie a week later brought about our first league defeat since November. This, though, was put right when Livingston United were beaten by the odd goal in five after being two ahead in our next league outing and then the short trip to Pumpherston was rewarded with a 1-0 victory and a place in the second round of the Brown Cup. A second journey to Pumpherston in the space of a week, a Friday night game that yielded a share of the spoils in an end to end six goal thriller, was a further two points dropped as Fauldhouse United, Sauchie and Haddington Athletic were strengthening their promotion cases while 1-0 and 5-1 home defeats within the space of three days in the middle of April, against Super League Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic and the aforementioned Fauldhouse, brought to an end our involvement in the St Michael's and Brown Cups respectively.
The end of April brought three games in the space of six days and two draws, away to struggling West Calder United and Tranent, coupled with a two goal home defeat against a resurgent Harthill Royal all but extinguished the last flickering hopes of a title challenge, a reality underlined by successive defeats at the hands of the two main challengers Haddington Athletic and Fauldhouse United, respectively a 3-0 thumping at home and a narrow 3-2 reverse at Park View in a game where the performance perhaps merited a little more. However, the final four league games saw something of a return to form with two single goal victories, at home to Edinburgh United and Pumpherston, topped by a last day, 4-1 win at Livingston United doing much to erase the memory of a controversial 1-0 home defeat by Sauchie that was sandwiched in between and earn a top six finish.
