The leadership of the IRN-BRU SFL Third Division is up for grabs this Sunday as second placed Elgin City take on leaders Rangers at Borough Briggs in a game that is being shown around the world by ESPN.
For one of the Elgin players, facing up to Rangers in a battle for top spot is not new as he was a Heart of Midlothian player back in September, 2002 when the Ibrox side had the chance to move to the summit of the SPL at the expense of Celtic by defeating the Tynecastle side.
Elgin’s Paul McMullan is the player in question and he said: “Rangers were in second place then and we were third and both sides had strong international line-ups for the game. Rangers had cracking World Cup players at that time with Ronald de Boer and Claudio Cannigia playing and they won 2-0 with Claudio and Shota Arveladze both scoring.”
McMullan was right to recall very cosmopolitan line-ups as the sides that competed at Ibrox on Wednesday, 11th September, 2002, were:
Rangers: S. Klos, K. Muscat, R. Malcolm, F. Ricksen, C. Moore (M. Ross (68)), A. Numan, B. Ferguson, R. de Boer (B. Dodds (51)), M. Arteta, C. Caniggia (B. Konterman (83)), S. Arveladze.
Unused substitutes: A. McGregor, R. Latapy
Heart of Midlothian: R. McKenzie, A. Maybury, P. McMullan, S. Pressley, K. McKenna, S. Severin, P. Stamp, J. Valois, M. De Vries, S. Boyack (K. Twaddle (77)), A. Kirk (G. Wales (77))
Unused substitutes: C. Gordon, A. Webster, N. Janczyk
Goalscorers: Claudio Caniggia (41), Shota Arveladze (79)
McMullan continued: “We also had a really good side and guys like Steven Pressley certainly made my job a lot easier at that time. I was only 18-years-old and despite the scoreline, I have a lot of good memories from that day as it was an unbelievable experience playing in that game against those players.”
He added: “I thought I did well in the game although mind you, it was almost 10 years before I experienced it again when we met Rangers in the fourth League game of this season. Going there with Elgin was incredible and it was a great day out as well.
“We scored after about 15 minutes with a great strike from Jamie Duff. I have seen Jamie hit shots like that before and hopefully, will see him hit shots like that again.”
Rangers hit back to win 5-1 with David Templeton enjoying a fine debut as he scored twice with McMullan saying: “Going ahead at Ibrox was great but it was always going to be a difficult lead to hold on to. Like everyone else at the club, I am a part-time player now and we were up against a team full of full-time players. We had played Falkirk earlier in the season in The Scottish Communities League Cup and their fitness told in the second half of that game when we lost 2-0.
“Rangers were winning 3-1 by half-time and ran out 5-1 winners and as well as having players that are fitter due to their full-time status, they have very experienced players in Lee McCulloch and Ian Black. These guys are still top class and it must be great for their youngsters to play alongside them.”
Black is a former team-mate of McMullan, who left Hearts after three years in 2004 after a loan spell at Queen of the South, for Inverness Caledonian Thistle before playing for Raith Rovers, Hamilton Academical, Stranraer, Clyde and Berwick Rangers before heading to Morayshire earlier this year.
McMullan said: “I played with Ian at Inverness and he was always a competitive player but there are lots of players like that in Scotland who work and train hard throughout their careers. It was good to meet up with him earlier in the season and I am sure I will have a word with him again this weekend.”
The Motherwell born player will also meet up with his own team-mates this weekend after a break as he said: “I still stay in the central belt and train with Carluke Rovers a couple of times a week. I do my own thing in the gym as well outside of that. I meet up with the players who are based down here and then we travel to meet the northern based players on a Saturday for a game.”
Despite their different locations, there is a collective spirit all the same with McMullan adding: “We all do a pre-season programme with Elgin up there in the summer. It not only sets us up for the season but helps everyone get to know each other better as some of us only meet up on matchdays thereafter.
“The Manager works hard in trying to drive the club forward and he gets the respect of the boys for that approach.”
Despite only being an Elgin player for a few months, McMullan is an admirer of what they have achieved as he explained: “The club has been about sensible progression over recent years. I have played against them over the seasons before joining in January and have seen that improvement on the pitch. The Manager, Ross Jack, leads by example and he puts his heart and soul into the club and the players do likewise and we can compete with anyone in the Third division as a result.
“We came fourth last season and made the Play-Offs for the first time and reaching them again is the target this season although we would like to improve on our record of losing in the Semi-Finals against Albion Rovers.”
Elgin are on a six game unbeaten run at the moment and they could actually be sitting ahead of their Light Blue visitors had they not drawn three of those games with McMullan saying: “We had a run of games where we drew them all 2-2. We were unfortunate in them as we were always in front but we have started being more ruthless and had a 5-1 win over East Fife in the Scottish Cup.
“We then won League games against Berwick and Stirling Albion. We are looking dangerous when we go forward and no-one more so than Craig Gunn who was on fire in the first half against Stirling when he grabbed a hat-trick.”
The distance from McMullan’s base in central Scotland and Borough Briggs means that he is not experiencing the growing sense of anticipation in Elgin first hand however, he is being kept well up to date as he said: “The northern boys have said that the excitement about the Rangers game is growing and that is brilliant for the town but as players, we have to remember that the game is just the same as the rest in that there are only three points available.
“That is the same points that are available for any other game that can be won but we know that we all need to play as best as we can and hope some of the Rangers players have an off day to pick all three points up.”
Attending a home game for Elgin has been a more popular choice for McMullan’s friends this week with the now 28-year-old saying: “I have had a few more calls about tickets for this one. They have been from Rangers fans as there is not usually a great demand for people who live near me to make the trek to Elgin.
“There is a good crowd of fans at our home games who back us well and Elgin City is one of the few teams where we get piped on and the bagpipes are also played when we score a goal.”
The move over the past decade from a packed Ibrox for a SPL game to a packed Elgin for a Third Division game is not one that McMullan regrets as he explained: “I am playing at left back after being a winger at the early stages of my career and I am really fortunate that I am enjoying my football. I now combine playing with work as an assistant physiotherapist which I do when I am not playing football.
“When I went part-time, I studied for a Diploma in Fitness and Exercise and I am working towards being a fully qualified physio. I am not there yet and the club don’t trust me to look at their players but that day may come!”
The first and second Ibrox games are not the only highlights of McMullan’s playing career as he said: “This Rangers game is as big a game as the other two but in terms of my career, playing in the Edinburgh derby against Hibs is probably the highlight. I played as a substitute in the game that Hearts won 5-1 when Mark de Vries scored four times and I played from the start when Hearts won 2-1 at Easter Road.
“We were losing 1-0 until the last couple of minutes when Kevin McKenna scored an equaliser and then Phil Stamp scored the winner before getting sent off. Neil Janczyk, who is now at Berwick Rangers, came on that day as a substitute in the last 10 minutes and set up both goals and I am fairly sure he has mentioned it a few times!”
As for Rangers this weekend, McMullan is taking it in his stride saying: “We are keeping things low key although the seven of us who live in the west of Scotland are heading up on Saturday as the kick-off is an early one on Sunday.
“I will be getting picked up in Motherwell and the excitement will build then I am sure. Elgin is probably at fever pitch already and when you consider it is the first ever live TV match at Borough Briggs, you can understand why.”
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