Musselburgh aim to ease drop heartache in semi-final with Tranent

Musselburgh Athletic striker Matti King says tonight's Fife and Lothians Cup semi-final at home to East Lothian rivals Tranent is the perfect game to bounce back from their relegation heartache.

Musselburgh striker Matti King

The Olivebank men were relegated on Saturday having failed to pick up the point required in their match away to Jeanfield Swifts to prevent demotion to the Premier League.

King, who picked up three gongs – Player of the Year, Players’ Player of the Year and the club’s top goalscorer accolade – at their recent awards night insists he and his team-mates are in the right frame of mind ahead of tonight’s match (kick-off 7pm).

“Saturday very disappointing,” said club captain King. “We’ve said all season we think we’re good enough to stay in the league and we’ve just proved that we’ve not been. We still don’t think we are a bad team, we’ve not had the breaks, but we can’t blame anybody else but ourselves.

“You can’t dwell on these things, you just have to get on with it. Tranent are flying so we’ll need to be on our game tonight.

“We seem to do all right in the cups, but I’m sure I speak for the boys and Calvin [Shand, manager] that we’d rather maybe only be in one of the cups or none of them and still in the league. We just need to concentrate on trying to salvage something from this season.”

Tranent are seeking to reach their second final in five days having disposed off Dundee North End 1-0 in the semi-final of the East of Scotland Cup on Saturday. They have already beaten five Super League clubs in both cup competitions.

King added: “They are going to be well up for it. I think they’ll be up challenging next season. We played them in a friendly earlier in the season and they have some really good players.”