Rose to host champs-elect

But, having witnessed clear signs of progress over the last few weeks following a sticky opening half of the season, Miller is confident his own men can be back fighting for the championship again in years to come.

Bonnyrigg have leapt from second bottom to joint-fourth thanks to back-to-back league wins over Newtongrange Star and Glenrothes. The fact they still conceded five goals in those games remains a concern for Miller but, with Kevin McLeish shining in the middle of the park and young Craig O'Reilly leading the line superbly, he's feeling much more contented than a few weeks back.

"We are a lot happier when we look at the table and see ourselves fourth in a group on 14 points instead of lying second bottom," said Miller. "In the next few weeks everyone will be trying to make themselves safe and that's where we are at the moment.

"We still have half our fixtures to go and we can concentrate on the league as we don't have any cup ties to distract us.

"I think we've played well at different spells in the season without getting a reward but, in the last few games, I think we've got a reward.

"I'm pleased we have scored seven goals in our last two league games but still concerned that we have conceded five. We've not got it right yet but at least we are moving in the right direction."

To make that happen, Miller had to make some tough decisions when finding himself with too big a squad after signing a number of players in the wake of last season's title triumph.

"At start of the season we did what every club does and made changes, changes I still think were right," he added. "What we did was bring in too many players as we were up to a squad of 25. It just wasn't working because, when things aren't going right, the temptation is to start meddling and change things. That leads to inconsistency that doesn't help with team selection and it didn't help with our results.

"When we slashed back to 19 or 20 that meant we had to be a bit more consistent with team selections and, even in the games when we still weren't getting it right, we weren't over-analysing."

After missing the opening few months of the season with a knee injury, former Forfar midfielder McLeish has made his mark in recent games, as has O'Reilly, who had spells with Clyde, East Fife and Stenhousemuir before jumping at the chance to join his home-town club.

"Kevin is now showing he's a terrific player, while Craig is the focal point of the striking positions I've been looking for since I arrived at the club," said the manager. "On the negative side, it's unfortunate that we've been without Scott Ritchie recently. He had outstanding debut season last year and we've missed him badly – that's been one of the contributory factors to lack of clean sheets.

"All in all, I think changes we've made are right in the long term. If I'm being totally honest, winning the league in my first season was totally unexpected, no matter how fantastic that was.

"Jim McHale (the club chairman] and I spoke from the outset about three and four-year plans because it was an ageing squad when I arrived and we have managed to reduce that. Although there's still a couple of tweaks to come, we now think we have a squad that will stand the club in good stead for years to come. We've got them contracted for next season and some beyond that."

Last weekend Bonnyrigg found themselves 2-0 down at the break at home to Glenrothes but turned the game around in the second-half, to the delight of their manager. "Glenrothes could have been 4-0 up at half-time and, if we do that against Bo'ness, we'd be as well not coming out for the second-half," said Miller. "The crowd were a bit disgruntled at half-time, but we turned it around in magnificent fashion as the players showed a determination to come back from 2-0 down. It was great to see them over at the dug-out celebrating the winner as that shows a togetherness."

Bo'ness, who were beaten by Oakley in the Fife & Lothians Cup last weekend – Bonnyrigg had suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Fifers in the East of Scotland Cup seven days earlier – head for Midlothian with a four-point cushion at the top of the table and two games in hand on second-placed Newtongrange.

"They've had a really impressive season and I look well nigh impossible to catch unless they have a total collapse," said Miller.

"I can't see that for two reasons – their manager, Allan McGonigal, and also the quality of players they have." In tomorrow's other Super League games, Newtongrange are away to Kelty, Bathgate entertain Camelon, Whitburn are at Glenrothes in a crunch clash at the foot of the table.

Musselburgh are at home to Hill of Beath in a match being played at Forresters Park in Tranent due to ongoing work at Olivebank and Linlithgow will be aiming to keep up their recent good form at Lochee.