THE season just ended was a disappointing one for Montrose Roselea as they finished third-bottom of the Whyte and MacKay Premier League and were relegated to the North League for next season.
The 'Lea also changed their manager mid-season. The long-serving David Balfour departed and was replaced by Ralph Brand.
There were some excellent home performances by Roselea in the league, the best of which was a 2-0 win over promoted Forfar
West End. There were also home wins over Penicuik (2-1), Dundonald (5-0), Armadale (3-0) and Rosyth (4-0).
The away performances were not so good and a 2-0 win over bottom club Rosyth was Roselea's only away league win.
Roselea's complete league record was: Bo'ness L0-1 (h) L0-4 (a); Forfar West End W2-0 (h) L0-3 (a); Newtongrange L1-4 (h) L1-4 (a); Musselburgh L0-2 (h) L0-3 (a); North End L0-1 (h) L0-2 (a); Penicuik W2-1 (h) L1-3 (a).
Kinnoull D2-2 (h) L0-2 (a); Arniston D0-0 (h) L0-2 (a); Dundonald W5-0 (h) D1-1 (a); Armadale W3-0 (h) L0-1 (a); Rosyth W4-0 (h) W2-0 (a).
Roselea had a home record of W5 D2 L4 F19 A11 Pts17 and an away record of W1 D1 L9 F5 A25 Pts4 for an overall W6 D3 L13 F24 A36 Pts21.
Bo'ness and Forfar West End were promoted and Armadale and Rosyth were relegated along with Roselea.
Roselea had fine runs in four out of the seven cup competitions they entered.
In the Scottish Cup, they beat Deveronside then saw off Kilsyth on penalties after a replay. Their run ended in the fourth round with a 2-0 home defeat against the eventual winners of the competition, Bathgate.
In the East of Scotland Cup there were successive home wins against Pumpherston (2-0), Arniston (3-0) and Ballingry (4-0) before they lost 3-0 away to Camelon in the quarter-final.
The Montrose side went all the way to the semi-final of the Challenge Cup. They beat Downfield, then Forfar West End on penalties, before they lost to Carnoustie in the semis.
In the DJ Laing League Cup, way back at the start of the season, three straight wins over Forfar Albion, ASC and Brechin Vics got Roselea through their section and into the semi-final where they lost to Tayport.
Roselea's defence of the GA Cup proved unsuccessful. They beat FC Stoneywood on penalties, then lost to Forfar West End.
The Currie Cup saw a 4-3 home defeat against Carnoustie in the first round and there was disappointment in the Redwood Leisure Cup with a 3-1 first round defeat at home to Rosyth.
Roselea scored 34 goals in cup competition, giving them a total of 58 for the season.
Calum Watson was top scorer with 18 goals, followed by Kevin Longmuir with ten and Paul Whyte and Craig Anderson with five.
Other tallies were: Ryan Strachan, James McKellar and Ralph Brand with three, Duncan Croall, Martin Christie and Bryan Forbes with two and Calum Rae, Derek Paterson, Chris Simpson, David Craig and Kevin Crawford all with one.
There were two hat-tricks, Kevin Longmuir against Arniston and Calum Watson against Ballingry, both in the East of Scotland Cup.
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