Bo'ness Athletic: Irvine's side go four clear at the top after 4-0 victory

The Newtown Park side are now four points clear at the summit after goals from Tiwi Daramola, Grant Rose, Michael Weir and Jason Mackay sealed the three points.

Willie Irvine’s side narrowly missed out on promotion last year and the boss believes his team are well on their way to completing the job this time around.

"We've played the first quarter now and we are in a great position,” he explained. “But we are only taking it as that and nothing more as it is a long season. With 36 games this year anything can happen and we need to make sure we keep our squad fit and ready.

"We had a sickness bug go around the place during the week and up until Saturday morning so that wasn’t ideal and we still have a fair few defenders out of action. Jonny Mitchell and Aidan McKeown have been out for a while and David Taylor isn’t ready yet either. That is three important players for us.

"The performance was a little bit flat in the first half but I do think that was just down to some of the players not feeling great during the week. After the break we played really well and at a tempo that they couldn’t live with. Our substitutes made an impact when they came on too which is pleasing.”

After nine matches played in the division, Athletic have the best goal scoring and goals against statistics by some margin. They have scored 45 goals so far which is 20 more than their nearest competitors while at the back they have only conceded four times.

A delighted Irvine added: "We were worthy winners on the day and it has been a really good start to the season. That is seven out of nine games we have managed to not concede a goal which is a good sign. To scored so many goals but also be the best team defensively is all you can ask for as a manager.

"We just need to keep going and doing the right things. We can’t let injuries affect us and we can’t have any sort of mental block. The momentum has to keep going and hopefully we’ll be up there come the end of the campaign.”

Athletic’s next match is a trip to face fourth-placed Stoneyburn on Saturday.