Calum Elliot hails players as Tranent keep destiny of East of Scotland League title in their own hands

Tranent fought back from 3-1 down at Linlithgow Rose to draw 3-3 to keep their East of Scotland Premier title destiny in their own hands.

Calum Elliot’s side remain top of the table on goal difference ahead of Penicuik Athletic with the final round of fixtures this Saturday. Tranent know any win at home to Jeanfield Swifts will secure the league crown given their superior 20 goal gap on the Cuikie, who host Linlithgow.

“I thought we played better than we did last week [against Linlithgow],” said Elliot. “Again, we showed enormous character, we wanted to keep everything in our hands and we’ve done that. Hats off to the boys, they dug in, obviously we wanted to come here and get three points, but to get a point against a good, good side, we will take that.

“You never stop believing in this team, they’ve showed time and time again that they can dig in when we need to. I don’t know how many times you can ask them to go and do it but they dug really, really deep.”

Tranent manager Calum Elliot is delighted with the character shown by his team

In an action-packed 90 minutes at Prestonfield, in-form Rose forward Sean Heaver gave the hosts the lead with a close range header on 13 minutes for his seventh goal in eight games.

Tranent pulled level midway through the first half through Sean Murphy following a neat one-two with Oban Anderson on the edge of the box, but Rose top goalscorer Mark Stowe produced a terrific finish in off the bar to net just four minutes later.

Elliot would have expected a response from his side in the second half but home centre-back Liam Allison headed in from a corner-kick just five minutes after the interval.

Veteran striker Wayne McIntosh’s impact off the bench was crucial to the visitors’ revival and he gifted Rory Currie a tap in with a low cross to the front post. The equaliser came five minutes from time when Rose defender Dan Baur, just on as a sub, headed into his own net with his first touch.

Elliot continued: “We go into the last game and both teams will do everything they possibly can to try and get over the line now. Jeanfield are a top side so it’s going to be tough and Penicuik have got Linlithgow so it will be two tough games. Whoever wins it deserves it, because it’s a tough, tough league, it’s relentless.

“It’s up to them now to do everything they possibly can to get over the line now. It will be a big week at training this week to make sure that we are prepared as we possibly can to go and win that game.

“We certainly can’t afford to give Jeanfield a two-nil lead, we have to be on it, we can’t make mistakes. Every single player in the dressing room needs to be at training so we are ready for the game to give everything we can for the club to try and get over the line.

“For the players it is massive, because I know how much it means to them, it would be a great achievement.”

Penicuik were dominant 6-1 winners away to relegated Camelon with Paul Tansey netting a double. Newtongrange Star relegation was confirmed as Broxburn Athletic netted a late winner to win 3-2, while fourth-from-bottom Lothian Thistle gave their survival hopes a boost with an impressive 3-0 victory at Hill of Beath.