Armadale Thistle kept alive their East of Scotland Conference X promotion hopes with a 3-0 win over Fauldhouse United at Volunteer Park, writes Callum McCormack.
A second half Scott Dalziel double and a Chris Donnelly header meant Thistle eased to the three points having suffered a shock defeat to the Hoose the previous week.
The Dale came out of the traps quickest and within the first five minutes had two chances to put themselves ahead. First, Dalziel’s through ball split the defence to find Robbie Feeney but he couldn’t make enough contact and Jacob Weatherby was able to gather easily in the United goal.
A minute later, Feeney played in Stuart McLeod but his effort from the edge of the box was high.
For the visitors, Conor Scullion and Hashim Bakar looked lively and they combined for United’s best chance of the game. Scullion’s ball down the left was met by Bakar who slalomed between defenders but could only watch as his effort bounced off the post.
From then on, it would be mostly one-way traffic as Armadale took control. They should have been ahead around the half hour mark as Sammy Watson was able to find Feeney in the 18 yard box. Weatherby did well to save the striker’s initial shot, but could only palm the ball back to where it came from.
With the ball returning to Feeney’s feet and the keeper down, he played in Dalziel who had an empty net to fire into but his rushed shot was scuffed wide.
Dalziel would make amends after the break as he broke the deadlock on 57 minutes, evading the Fauldhouse defence to head home JJ Henderson’s corner.
Fifteen minutes later and a Henderson corner would lead to another Dalziel goal as he got on the end of a flick-on from substitute Donnelly to nod home his second. United would once again be punished for not defending a Henderson delivery as Donnelly met a free-kick for head home Dale’s third and secure the points.
A delighted Thistle gaffer Derek Strickland said: “I thought we should have been a couple of goals up at half-time. I said to them keep playing away and the goals will come. Obviously, I was delighted to score three in the second half.
“It’s something we spoke about at half-time because we’ve got Scott Dalziel in there who is really excellent in the air and obviously you see with the goals we scored.
“We’ve got big experienced players in the team and if you use them the right way you’ll always make chances, so I was pleased with that. They were great deliveries into the box.”
United first team coach Mark Wilson wasn’t too downbeat and admitted it was a great learning experience for a young Hoose side with eight of their under-20 side in the squad.
He commented: “We’ve got a lot of young boys playing for us and it’s difficult to play against professional players sometimes. I didn’t feel we were at the races, if I’m being honest. Armadale deserved the three points.
“We’ve got to use our under 20s. There’s no point in having an under 20s if we’re not going to utilise them so that’s where we’re at. We’re on a restart for next season.
“We used some of them last week and maybe it’s a step too far. You ask them to do the same two weeks on the trot against one of the top sides and a lot of professional players and maybe it becomes difficult at that point.”
He added: “We just need to try and build on it, and there’s a lot of things changing at the football club, so I think we just keep going.
“We keep the young boys up and we’ve got to keep them trying and learning, but when you play against seasoned professionals at this level, there’s a lot to learn.”
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