Renton hoping to give his career a Kris of life

Now 20, Renton's dream spell at Norwich City turned into a nightmare after he suffered a broken leg. The striker became homesick and fell out of love with football for a time.

But the flame has been re- ignited again after he joined his hometown club Musselburgh Athletic and Renton is aiming to use the East Region Super League as a stepping stone back into full-time football. He's found an excellent strike partner at the Olivebank club in Matti King and the pair were both on target in last Saturday's win at Newtongrange.

The pair will be looking to continue that sort of form against Jeanfield Swifts in Perth in the East of Scotland Cup first round tomorrow. "The last couple of years have been a hard time for me," admitted Renton. "I stopped enjoying my football and also put a bit of weight on, become really unfit as a consequence.

"However, I'm starting to enjoy games again. I'm also starting to do better again and, all in all, I feel I am starting to get back into it again, albeit slowly.

"I've got no regrets at all about what happened at Norwich. I made my debut in the Championship when I was 16 and at that stage in my career I was flying. I was doing really well.

"It was a pleasure to work with players like Dion Dublin and Darren Huckerby in training every day. Making my debut at Leicester was also a great experience.

"Unfortunately, I then suffered a leg break and it was difficult for me from then on. I started to get homesick and felt it was time to come back up the road.

"I've not given up yet, though. I still hope to go back full-time again. I know scouts come to Super League matches. A couple of boys were picked up last season, for instance.

"If I have a good season and keep scoring goals I might hopefully get picked up by a club." On the evidence of his performance against Newtongrange, it won't be long at all before Renton is attracting attention.

He held the ball up well, proved a real handful in the air and capped his day off with a thunderous winner.

His partnership with King was a joy to watch, in the first half in particular, and the pair certainly have the ability to strike fear into defences this season.

"We played a lot together towards the end of last season and got to know how each other plays," added Renton.

"In pre-season we were on fire, to be honest, and hopefully during the course of the season we'll be able to cause defences some problems."

"After two defeats, we hadn't got off to the best of starts. But we showed at Newtongrange how well we can play and I am confident we can do okay this season."

Renton's big brother, Kieron, is also on the Musselburgh books at the moment, the goalkeeper having been at Blackburn Rovers earlier in his career.

Alan Morgan, who had spells at Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Kilmarnock, is turning out for his hometown club as well this season after being signed in the summer by David McGlynn.

"I'm from Musselburgh, as are four or five others, including Alan Morgan," noted the younger Renton sibling. "Kieron played with him for years, they were at Blackburn together. I think Kieron also played with Matti King when they were younger. There's a lot of the boys in the team who have a good understanding.

"This is the first time Kieron and I have played in the same team. He's a few years older than me and I've always wanted to play against him and score against him.

"That's not happened but it's good to be playing in the same team as him instead."

It was from his brother's massive kick-out that Renton scored his goal at New Victoria Park - and he was disappointed he didn't add a second one.

"It was a good kick from Kieron and I just had to smash it as hard as I could," he reflected. "I had another good chance just after that and though the keeper made a good save on that occasion I should probably have done a bit better."

"It was a pleasure to work with players like Dion Dublin and Darren Huckerby in training every day" kris renton