An opening night Midlothian Derby win against Arniston Rangers saw the Cuikie run out 4-0 winners before a trip to East Lothian where they shared the spoils with Musselburgh Athletic in a 1-1 draw. A sign of some of the fantastic end-to-end action we'd see throughout the season followed with a 6-3 win over Edinburgh College before the first disappointment of the season, a penalty shootout exit from the League Cup after a 2-2 draw at Dunipace. A crucial double header came next against two of the top sides in the Conference, a 2-2 draw at home to Whitburn before a fantastic performance and three points at Haddington, Aazam Akbar wrapping up the 3-1 win in injury time. A return to cup action saw East Kilbride Thistle travel through to Penicuik and a clinical Penicuik saw off their West opponents 6-0 in the Challenge Cup. A first league defeat of the season came at the start of October as Syngenta claimed the three points with a 3-2 win on the Penicuik Park 3G, however this was later declared null and void due to Syngenta later resigning from the league, along with West Calder United.
An excellent advert for development football came just a week later as a thriller in Dunbar saw Penicuik bag a 7-4 win, the highlight being Ben McManus' first hat-trick for the club. Wins against Fauldhouse United (2-1) and Rosyth (7-2) followed before a trip to title rivals Hill of Beath. With midfielder Jamie Scott in goal, the Cuikie showed their grit and determination to come away with a 3-2 win thanks to an Akbar double along with Josh Philp's late winner - oh and Scott saving a penalty!
The rest of November saw varying results, West Calder were defeated 11-0 before defeats at Leith (2-0) and then at St Roch's (6-1) followed, the latter seeing the side exit the Challenge Cup. There was further disappointment as an injury time equaliser from Camelon denied Penicuik three points in a 2-2 draw before a return to winning ways and an 8-1 win at Arniston Rangers. The year wrapped up with a win in the Knockout Cup, defeating Lothian Thistle HV on penalties after coming back from 2-0 down.
2023 began with four wins from four, as Musselburgh (4-1), Rosyth (7-0), Fauldhouse (6-0) and Whitburn (5-2) were defeated, the win at Whitburn arguably the best performance of the season. However as good as those four games had been, the next four saw a 2-2 draw with Haddington, a 4-0 defeat to Cumbernauld Colts ending the Knockout Cup campaign, and heavy defeats to Dunbar (4-1) and Hill of Beath (6-0) at home ultimately proved too costly.
A return to form ended March with a 5-1 win at Edinburgh College preceded a four-week break until the last two matches of the season, a 6-3 home win against Leith Athletic before a 1-0 defeat at Camelon on the final night.
Another big positive throughout the season was the involvement of Sean Calder, Chinanu Onwuagba, Josh Philp, Ben McManus, Lewis Grahame, Aazam Akbar, Sean Clouston and Ethan Hope within the first team squad.
Our thanks also go to Willie McGinley, Dougie Hope, Stewart Shepherd and Calum MacKenzie for their hard work in managing the side this season.
Our congratulations go to Champions Hill of Beath Hawthorn, well deserved winners of the conference this season.
We wish all the boys an enjoyable summer and we look forward to seeing you again next season!
TOP SCORERS
32 - Josh Philp
16 - Aazam Akbar
13 - Sulaiman Ashraf
11 - Ben McManus
7 - Chinanu Onwuagba
4 - Finlay Smith, Cory Bunker
3 - Sean Clouston, Lewis Meechan
2 - Ethan Hope, Harry Brash
1 - Lewis Robertson, Cammy Smith, Sam Neil, Logan Cameron, Lewis Grahame
MOST ASSISTS
13 - Aazam Akbar
9 - Finlay Smith
8 - Sulaiman Ashraf, Josh Philp
6 - Ben McManus
5 - Chinanu Onwuagba
4 - Sean Clouston, Lewis Grahame, Sam Neil
3 - Sean Calder, Lewis Meechan
2 - Cory Bunker, Ethan Hope, Jamie Scott, Cammy Smith
Comments