Locke leads the way for Broxburn
Athletic fire five to record first away win
Broxburn Athletic sealed an emphatic victory to pick up their first away points of the campaign at the expense of a poor Sauchie side.
After a disappointing home draw against top-flight new boys Kennoway Star Hearts, The Burn bounced back well and got their noses in front within the opening minute and never looked back thanks to their blistering attack, which, put the hosts to the sword.
Captain Nicholas Locke opened the scoring just seconds into the contest as he headed home a free-kick from Kieran Anderson.
He almost netted a second but was thwarted by Darren Dolan in the Sauchie goal after a jinky run.
At the other end, Connor Wallace was forced into a decent save by Scott Hynd and the home side were made to rue that miss as Athletic scored a quick-fire brace to effectively kill the game off within 16 minutes.
Athletic notched their second on 11 minutes as prolific striker Zander Miller ran through the heart of the defence and slotted calmly beyond the goalie from 12 yards out.
The whirlwind start continued for Max Christie’s men as they found themselves three goals to the good moments later when Anderson was on hand to rifle the ball home after Jack Beasley’s piercing run and pass across the face of goal had teed him up perfectly.
Only a string of stunning saves from Dolan kept the scoreline respectful as he first pulled off a great stop to deny Locke then tipped a stinging effort from Anderson over the bar.
His best save, though, came when the stopper somehow tipped wide a Craig Scott effort seemingly destined to nestle in the bottom corner of the net.
After an atrocious opening half-
hour, Sauchie should have dragged themselves back into the contest but Ryan Millar spurned their best chance of the contest when the striker fired wide across the face of goal after working some space out on the left.
Chris Townsley went close to extending Broxburn’s lead just before the interval but couldn’t keep his header down.
Athletic continued to dominate proceedings after the break and put the game beyond doubt when Miller grabbed his second of the afternoon.
On 52 minutes, the striker made the most of some slack defending to plough his way through on goal and prod past Dolan.
It continued to be one-way traffic for the rampant Burn and the only real shock was that they were only able to add one more to their tally.
A last-ditch tackle from Lee Dawson prevented Anderson from pulling the trigger while Gordon Donaldson fired a strike narrowly wide on the hour mark.
Dolan was once again called into action as he prevented Locke from making it a brace with a smart save midway through the second half.
For Sauchie, Millar was proving the only real threat and he was repelled by Wallace in the closing stages as the visitors clung on for their second clean sheet of the new campaign.
The scoring was completed in the latter stages when Alexander Murray, making his competitive debut, raced clear and showed brilliant composure by sliding the ball beyond Dolan to wrap up proceedings in style.
Broxburn host Oakley United in the East of Scotland Cup First Round this weekend.