Dunipace beat East of Scotland first division promotion rivals to make it five league wins on the spin

Dunipace v St Andrews Sam Colley scores to put Dunipace 2-0 up (Photo: Scott Louden)

That victory, courtesy of an early opener from Martin France and a brace from Sam Colley, sees the Denny side sit in second spot, three points ahead of local rivals Camelon Juniors, and only two points behind leaders Newtongrange Star – who have played three matches more than the Pace.

But despite his side’s stunning season so far, assistant coach Alan Moffat, who took charge of the team in manager Danny Smith’s absence, says his team aren’t getting ahead of themselves as they chase promotion to the top tier.

"There are 13 games left and 39 points to play for – a lot can happen in that time, especially in this league,” he said. “We are keeping ourselves going along quietly. We aren’t getting ahead of ourselves because we know that nothing has been achieved yet. We’re taking it a game at a time.

“The club is in a great place on and off the park. We are seeing bigger crowds and the locals have bought into the team for sure. When the team is winning that breeds positivity and the fans have been brilliant.”

And on Dunipace’s five-match winning run on league duty, which has seen the Pace score 16 goals while only conceding five, Moffat added: “We’ve hit a real vein of form in the league. We had a bit of shocker in the King Cup a couple of weeks ago but the truth is that promotion is our aim this year – nothing else.

"The team is picking itself at the moment which is a good sign. We’ve had the same starting eleven for the past few league games. We’ve been great at home and on Saturday we wanted to start the game quickly and we were 2-0 up after 20 minutes. We deserved to win and the clean sheet was pleasing too against a very good St Andrews team.”

On-form forward Colley produced two excellent finishes against the Fife outfit to make it his third brace in a row on league duty, and Moffat hailed the striker for his newly-found goalscoring knack.

Dunipace star Sam Colley celebrates his second goal against St Andrews United last Saturday afternoon (Photo: Scott Louden)

“Sam has all the ability,” he said. “He has pace and power.

"The main thing for Sam is that he has also really added goals to his game in recent months.

"He has been excellent this season and we are fortunate to have him. He is a handful for every single team we face.”