Strathspey praised after one of their ‘best displays so far’

DEVERONVALE STRATHSPEY 0 4

Strathspey Thistle produced a dominant performance to sweep Deveronvale aside 4-0 at Princess Royal Park.

It was the Jags’ first victory over Vale since they entered the Highland League having only ever taken a point from them.

Thistle manager Gordon Nicholson was full of praise for his players.

He said: “That’s three wins in a row and all have been deserved but this was one of our best displays so far.

“The conditions were horrendous but we gave nothing away in the first half, playing into the strong wind. We deserved to score before half-time having been denied a stonewall penalty earlier.

“We knew on the turnaround if we played to our potential we could hurt them but we did slacken off a bit late in the game and they could have pulled something back.

“Scott Lisle took his hattrick well and is a fantastic young footballer but he still has a lot to improve.

“It is a team effort but we are not getting carried away as we now face a dangerous Forres Mechanics team next.”

Vale manager Steve Dolan told his players they will face a disappointing season if they don’t up their game.

He said: “We didn’t work hard, with our first shot on goal coming after 75 minutes.

“That says a lot about

“That’s three wins in a row and all have been deserved”

how we played on the day and it was an inability to pass the ball properly and press our opponents that was disappointing. I can’t say that about the team a lot as 4-0 didn’t flatter them. It could easily have been more.

“I’ve told the players to have a good look at themselves as we now face Cove on Wednesday night and we can’t go there and play like that.”

Errol Watson kept Vale in the game with two superb stops from Lisle and James Fraser, but he had to admit defeat as Lisle scored from close range with seven minutes of the half remaining.

Michael Dunn’s attempted headed clearance saw him divert the ball beyond Watson for an own goal after 61 minutes.

Eight minutes later Lisle took advantage of a mix-up between Kyle Willox and Watson to score.

The striker claimed the match ball by netting his third with 11 minutes remaining.