Shotts Bon Accord assistant Martin Devlin praised hat-trick hero Danny Burns as he honed in on 30 goals for the season - then insisted he’s still got work to do.
The Bonny were without manager John McKeown for Saturday’s trip to Irvine Vics after he tested positive for Covid-19 last week, but they coped perfectly well as they ran out 5-1 winners
Burns hit a hat-trick – and missed a penalty – in the rout, while Martin Shiels and Paul McGeough also netted.
That took Burns’ tally to 28 goals in 18 outings and Devlin said: “That’s what he is there to do. You can’t deny Danny’s goalscoring ability.
“There’s other parts of his game he can improve on - and we’ve told him that - but we’ve got a guy who has scored almost 30 goals since November so we can’t knock him too much because it is a phenomenal record.
“Danny missed a penalty for his hat-trick and then he actually scored a really good third goal in the end, so he did well.
“But everyone had good game on Saturday.”
The win stretched Shotts’ lead over Arthurlie to five points at the top of Conference A in the West of Scotland League, although they have played four games more.
Devlin added: “It’s never easy when the manager is not there, but I’d like to think the players know me well enough to put on a performance and they did that.
“The message before the game was that all we can do is put points on the board.
“It’s pleasing to stretch that lead at the top.
“I hope John will be back this weekend.”
This Saturday Shotts host fifth place Forth Wanderers.
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