Tranent v St Cuthbert Wanderers: This is best squad I’ve played with at Tranent, says Ben Miller

Winning the East of Scotland Premier League with Tranent before coaching Tranent AFC to Sunday League Cup glory, last weekend will live long in the memory for midfielder Ben Miller – but he hopes further success is just round the corner.

Tranent host South of Scotland champions St Cuthbert Wanderers at Foresters Park on Sunday (kick-off 3pm) for their first of two matches in the round robin play-off to get into the Lowland League.

“Saturday was hands down the best thing I have won in my career so far,” said the 27-year-old. “Every single person in the team was out after the game, the backroom staff, the manager, the committee, and even wee [Stewart] D’Arcy, the kitman, it was such a good a night.

“On the Sunday I was a wee bit tender and we won the League Cup [beating Lochend 5-0], we were brilliant so it made it a bit easier for myself and Jack Godsell who I take the team with.

Tranent's Ben Miller wants his team to focus on St Cuthbert Wanderers before facing Darvel

“We had a few drinks after that and I never made work on the Monday, I was in the Brigg in Tranent and my boss [Graham Gibson] was there, so he said I could take the Monday off. It was the perfect weekend.

In his seventh season with Tranent, Miller is the longest serving player at the club. He won the South Division title in 2016, in what was then the third tier of the East Juniors, which highlights Tranent’s rise in such a short period.

Miller continued: “It’s the best squad I’ve played with at Tranent. We’ve achieved a lot so far but we aren’t done yet. We just keep on grinding it out for each other.

“We’ve been brilliant this season. We were nine points behind Penicuik at one point halfway through the season and we did start to question if it would be our season. I think the turning point was the league match when we beat Penicuik, we started to catch up momentum after that.

“It’s a little bit bittersweet just now with winning the league but not going up, it could be the case you have get five going down but not one team going up. We need to take that out of our minds and just focus on Sunday. If we win on Sunday the Darvel game will just take care of itself.”