Musselburgh fans ready to ‘welcome’ former title winner Stephen MacDonald with big-spending Tranent

Musselburgh were the first port of call in Scotland for MacDonald when the Arizona-born frontman arrived on these shores in 2017, netting 25 goals during his one season with the club and becoming part of the Premier League title winning team which earned him a move to the Lowland League with Spartans.

The 24-year-old only has good things to say about his time with Musselburgh, where he became a favourite of the fans, but he expects to be on the receiving end from them in tomorrow’s match.

“It will be interesting,” said MacDonald. “We have four boys that played for Musselburgh in the past and Calvin [Shand, ex Musselburgh manager] so I’m sure some of their team and fans will have some things to say to us. We know it’s going to be a tough game, it will be a battle, but we’ll be doing everything we can to get the win.

“I really enjoyed playing for Musselburgh, it was a good welcome to Scotland for me, so I have nothing but good things to say about Musselburgh. When we go back to Olivebank I’ll need to make sure to walk in the away locker room.

“I still chat to some of the players who I played with. It will be good to see them.”

MacDonald’s big move to Ainslie Park didn’t work out as planned as he wasn’t able to establish a regular starting spot for Dougie Samuel’s men, and so he jumped at the chance of a reunion with former Musselburgh boss Calvin Shand when Tranent showed interest over the summer.

The big striker has already netted eight goals so far this season and is the leading scorer across the East of Scotland League.

He continued: “I just wanted to be playing again. I played for Calvin at Musselburgh and I really liked playing for him, so when he called me over the summer he told me what was going on at Tranent - the players they had and their ambitions, and that was where I wanted to play because I knew I would get game time and play how I want to play. I knew I would enjoy playing for him.

“We are undefeated so far with six wins out of seven I think, which is really good, so hopefully we can just keep that momentum going all season and stay undefeated for as long as we can.”