Musselburgh Athletic continue their climb but need 'four or five more wins' to be sure of survival

Darren Downie sparked the comeback for Musselburgh, with Josh Jeffries then levelling it up

Matti King says he and his Musselburgh Athletic team-mates will only begin to look up the East of Scotland Premier Division table once they have got themselves well clear of the relegation zone.

Club legend King, who struck four goals including his 200th strike for the Olivebank men in last Sunday’s 7-0 defeat of Mid Annandale to secure their spot in next season’s Scottish Cup, netted the equaliser for Kevin McDonald’s side in a 3-3 draw at Linlithgow Rose.

Burgh are now five points clear of bottom club Newtongrange Star with two games in hand, but King isn’t looking too far up the table just yet.

“We probably need four or five more wins to make sure, but we have certainly picked up from where we were because we were in a bit of a precarious position,” said skipper King.

“We’ve got ourselves out of it in the last month and a half by paying well and finally getting the results on top of it. Minor mistakes had cost us but we didn’t let our heads go down, we’ve kept playing the way Geordie [McDonald] wants us to play and it is now coming to fruition and we are getting the points for it.”

Michael Moffat took the armband from King on his 100th appearance for the club, but despite starting well at Prestonfield they found themselves two goals down inside ten minutes after Roddy MacLennan’s opener and a screamer from left-back Liam Allison.

“We actually started well, we were probably on top in the first ten minutes with a lot of possession and we were keeping the ball well,” continued King.

“There was a loose pass from one of us and they just played it through, and Roddy finished well. The second goal we couldn’t do anything about.”

Burgh levelled midway through the first half after Darren Downie and Josh Jeffries struck, the latter’s goal from long range flying over the head of home goalkeeper Lee Wilson whose clearance landed straight at Jeffries’ feet. Sam Columbine regained Rose’s lead in the second half but King equalised just two minutes later.

King added: “We came back strongly which is something Calvin [Shand, former manager] instilled in us but Geordie has ramped it up a bit - we never say die.”