United edge it in hard fought victory
BATHGATE THISTLE ........................... 1 FAULDHOUSE UNITED ...................... 2
Fauldhouse United ran out winners against a plucky, well-organised Bathgate Thistle at Creamery Park, writes David Hastie.
The pitch could have made for a long afternoon of slips and slides, but both teams gave a great account of themselves in their last game before the festive period.
Fauldhouse took the lead on 36 minutes from a corner whipped in by Jordan Craig to the back post. It was nodded down to the feet of Craig Johnston, who duly fired home.
They doubled their tally just three minutes later when a slip in the Bathgate back line allowed Johnston to waltz through, smashing the ball past Jakub Welna to double his tally.
The hosts looked to grab a goal before the break, when a corner fired in by trialist Scott Richards was cleared only as far as Fraser Cormack, who was duly scythed down by Declan McDonald, resulting in a yellow card for the number nine.
Thistle came out for the second half with a bit more urgency and this paid off 10 minutes in as they reduced the deficit. Grant Plenderleith’s cross eventually found Darrel Adams, whose deflected shot looped over the keeper.
And they should have been level just a minute later, when the ball made its way to Plenderleith in the box who was
ready to unleash his shot, before a wonderful tackle by Graham Weir.
Johnston had the chance to make it comfortable for the visitors after receiving a ball over the top, rushing through one-on-one with Welna before beautifully chipping the goalkeeper, only for it drop wide.
Late Bathgate pressure forced the away side into game management mode but they were able to see out the remainder of the contest to grab the vital three points.
Both managers expressed delight at the final whistle with Hoose’s Chris Mackie saying:“We’ve had a bit of a frustrating time with having trained a lot and no games being on.
“We came here for three points and we’re going away with three points, so we’re delighted with that.”
His Bathgate counterpart, Andy Colley, admitted it was a much better performance than last week’s five goal defeat to West Calder, commenting: “After the result last week we really questioned the lads, and questioned their attitude.
“We gave them a question to answer, and they answered it. I thought they were tremendous.”