Musselburgh-Broxburn: Scott McNaughton looking forward to facing father Brian after stunning week for both

First time family have come up against each other as coaches just days after baby's birth
Scott McNaughton, right, with his new son Rudy and dad Brian. Pic: ContributedScott McNaughton, right, with his new son Rudy and dad Brian. Pic: Contributed
Scott McNaughton, right, with his new son Rudy and dad Brian. Pic: Contributed

Hoisting aloft the Alex Jack Cup after lifting son Rudy for the first time last weekend will be hard to beat for Musselburgh Athletic assistant boss Scott McNaughton.

Following in the footsteps of his dad Brian McNaughton, manager of Broxburn Athletic, and experiencing the same success in the Scottish Cup as he’s done – with Musselburgh next season – might come close.

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Burgh’s 4-2 Alex Jack Cup final defeat of Oakley United took them one step closer to competing in next season’s national cup competition. Should they defeat South of Scotland side Mid Annandale in a play-off tie, likely to be in January, they will gain entry.

The McNaughtons come up against each other tomorrow when Broxburn visit Olivebank on a high after landing Scottish Premiership St Mirren away in the Scottish Cup fourth round.

“It’s the first time we have come up against each other from a management perspective,” said Scott McNaughton. “I think the last time we came up against each other was when I was playing at Dalkeith, and we managed to beat them that day, so it would be nice to do that again. Both teams are coming off the back of two massive results so will both be going into it with confidence behind them.”

McNaughton faced a mad dash to make last Sunday’s final at Newtongrange with baby Rudy arriving ten days earlier than planned.

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He continued: “I got Jordan and Rudy home at 12 o’clock on Sunday, I just dropped them off and went straight to the game. I was still in a bit of a bubble when I got there, but once I got the warm up done I was fine.

“We went in on Thursday night because there had been less movement so we went in to just get checked and we found out he was breached, so they said he would be coming out tomorrow. The cup final was a nice way to just top everything off.

“It was a bit surreal everything happening so quickly. Geordie [Kevin McDonald, manager] had been joking all last week that he was going to come on the day of the final and I would miss it, so he timed it pretty well.

“I had all my training gear when we went to the hospital because we didn’t think anything was going to come of it. I was texting Geordie trying to plan training when I was in the hospital because I thought I was going to get out. I couldn’t go as I found out about half 8 when training was meant to start that he was going to be coming on the Friday. It was a bit of a whirlwind, it all happened so quickly.

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“I never had much time to think about everything over the weekend. We had watched videos of them and prepared the way we needed to. We had a really good second half performance; it wasn’t so good in the first half and we probably could have been another goal down.

“We changed our shape and the boys were really good in the second half. It was a good day, a good end to the weekend.

“The opportunity to get into the Scottish Cup is massive for the club. The chairman and the committee have been doing a lot in the background in terms of trying to get our licence, and this has probably helped them, so they don’t have to rush it through.”

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