MUIRKIRK Juniors have their sights set on promotion after making a perfect start to their league season.

The Burnside Park club made it three wins from their opening three fixtures on Saturday as they defeated East Ayrshire rivals Bonnyton Thistle 4-2 away from home.

It was their second consecutive win by that scoreline having beaten Lanark United at home in midweek.

Their latest results, together with their opening day 1-0 win over Bellshill Athletic, means that the Kirk sit atop the table at this early stage.

It is a run that has very much pleased manager Ross Cusick, particularly given the position the club were in this time last season.

He commented: “We came in pre-season last year and we had a really young squad – probably the youngest in the whole West of Scotland.

“We had a horrible start to the season, we lost six of the first seven games. It’s nice not to have that feeling – being worried about getting points on the board early.

“Having nine on the board early sets you up nicely.”

(Image: Muirkirk Juniors)

He hopes that this is a sign of things to come as the East Ayrshire outfit look to improve on their finish last campaign.

Cusick added: “We finished mid-table last year despite that start, it was a comfortable finish and we definitely want to improve this year.

“A good start was important to that because had we not had the start we had last season, I certainly think we could have pushed higher on.

“This season we definitely want to be looking up rather than stepping back the way.

“Last year we had pretty much a full squad who were making their debuts at that level.

“Those players are now a year and 30-odd games down the line, and we’ve added three or four more experienced players as well to compliment that quality youth that we’ve got.

“All things considered we’re really happy with the start, with the squad that we’ve put together.”

Despite plenty of goals in their past two matches, the Muirkirk boss says the opening day victory has been the sweetest so far.

Cusick said: “The 1-0 win was probably the most pleasing. Opening day games are generally just carnage because everyone’s pumped up for the occasion.

“For the second successive season we’re going to play a newly promoted team so they’ve got that feel good factor about coming up. You’ve got to manage all that so it was a solid performance defensively at a difficult venue so that was pleasing.”

Though he was still delighted that his squad have shown they can do it at both ends of the park.

He continued: “On the flip side, in the midweek game, we were a real attacking threat and looked really lethal.

“At the weekend there we probably didn’t play as well as we would have liked to. We never really controlled that game but we managed to finish off a pretty incredible week.

“It was three tough fixtures. To get maximum points out that – I don’t think many people out with our building would have expected that.

“That being said we’re not getting carried away, there will be a million ups and downs in this division.

“When you’re doing well and riding high you just try and rinse that as much as you can and maximise the points you can take out of it before the season slows down.”

(Image: Muirkirk Juniors)

And Cusick sees no reason why his side cannot set their sights on promotion, with the West of Scotland Football League (WoSFL) Second Division set to be as tight as any league this season.

He continued: “I do think the league is much more open this year. Last year there were three standout teams and they all got promoted.

“It’s much more of a level playing field this year and week to week you’ll see a lot more inconsistent results – I think it will be much more open and go down to the wire.”

While Cusick admits that many may not have expected Muirkirk's impressive start to the campaign, he wants his side to be feared by opponents as the season develops.

He added: “We’re not unaware of who we are, we are actually quite proud of being a small traditional club who do things a certain way.

“People generally don’t know where Muirkirk is but that can be something that helps you.

“I know for a fact that we wouldn’t have been a team at the beginning of the season where people are looking at their fixture list and thinking ‘that is a tough one’.

“That’s on us to create that by winning games so that when people do have us in the coming weeks they have that in their head – and we make Burnside Park a place that people don’t enjoy coming to.”