East of Scotland: Danny Smith's Dunipace confirmed as First Division champions

Dunipace boss Danny Smith on the touchline (Photo: Alan Murray)

Dunipace have been crowned East of Scotland First Division champions after Newtongrange Star’s victory over second-placed St Andrews United on Tuesday night.

The Denny side completed their campaign as table-toppers last weekend, defeating Newtongrange 1-0 away from home, but they couldn’t mathematically seal the title as nearest challengers St Andrews still had two games to haul back a six-point gap and a sizable goal difference.

Speaking about the Pace’s proud campaign, boss Danny Smith hailed everyone invovled with the club for playing their part in getting the club up into the Premier Division.

"This year has been nothing short of excellent, and that goes for everyone invovled with the club,” he said. “Our aim as a group was to get out of this league because we felt that we could do that.

"We’ve overcome bumps along the road and anytime we did fall short we bounced back straight away. The character of the group has been second to none. I can’t praise the players highly enough.

"The guys really appreciate what the club means to people too and you can see that – the players deserve the trophy and I know that we are the best team in the division."