Bonnyrigg Rose take giant step towards League 2 by securing pyramid play-off place

There can be no shying away from the significance of his team’s emphatic 5-0 victory over Cumbernauld Colts, which secured a pyramid play-off with the Highland League champions and a shot at promotion to the SPFL.

By far the best supported team in the Lowland League, 778 fans crammed into New Dundas Park to watch Horn’s team take a giant step towards a potential place in League 2.

The victory extended their lead at the top of the Lowland league table to an incredibly 16 points and means that only Rangers B or Celtic B can catch the Midlothian team mathematically.

The Old Firm colts sides, of course, are ineligible for promotion. That means Bonnyrigg can in theory start thinking about who they might face from the Highland League in a two-legged pyramid play-off next month. Buckie, Brora, Brechin or Fraserburgh are all in the mix.

Get through that and they will take on the team who finish bottom of League 2, which looks like it will probably be Cowdenbeath.

That’s another two-legged tie, but if Bonnyrigg can also negotiate that one they’ll be playing football in SPFL League 2 next season.

Horn refuses to look that far ahead. He is having none of it. Determined to ensure that his team focus on one step at a time, the next goal he has set for them is winning the league.

Three more points are needed to achieve that and, after the Old Firm B teams facing each other this weekend, Rose will have the chance to wrap up the title next Tuesday night away to Horn’s former club, Berwick Rangers.

Cumbernauld were 49 points worse off than Bonnyrigg going into this one, but the weight of expectation in front of a huge crowd didn’t phase the Rose players.

They have now racked up 26 victories from 30 league games. There was no hesitation,