Armadale dump Blairgowrie to rise to third place

Apr 8 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

Armadale dump Blairgowrie to rise to third place

Premier League

JIM Henderson admits the Premier League table makes pleasant reading with his side sitting pretty in third place but the Armadale boss fears they might not be there for long.

The Dale beat Blairgowrie 3-1 on Saturday to soar to third spot in the pile but they have played three more games than sixth-placed Arniston Rangers and six more than Tayport who are sitting in seventh.

So the Armadale manager admits the table may give a truer picture of their standing once the other clubs have caught up with missed fixtures.

“Some of the teams around us have a lot of games in hand and it is quite a tight league so I don’t think the current table is a true reflection of how things are,” admitted Henderson.

“Don’t get me wrong it is brilliant to be sitting in third but the other sides have played less games than us and at the end of the day our aim is to retain our place in the Premier League and we are not kidding ourselves.”

Lee Johnstone, Greig Buchanan and Craig Chilton scored the goals for Armadale on Saturday as they cruised to victory but Henderson reckoned it wasn’t a great performance.

He continued: “It is was good to get another win but I thought it was among the poorest we’ve played in a while although it was good to see the game out after going 3-0 up.

“We are doing our best to stabilise our place in the league and get the players to believe they belong at this level or even a higher level and then hopefully push on and challenge for promotion next season.”

The only other junior games involving West Lothian clubs to beat the weather were in the South Division.

Livingston United were held 1-1 at home against Sauchie.

John Murphy netted an equaliser eight minutes from the end but Sauchie could have won it before the end when they were awarded a penalty.

But with just five minutes left to play keeper Andy Sheridan made a flying save to claw it away and earn Livingston a point. Elsewhere, Pumphertson fell to a 2-0 defeat away to Dalkeith and Harthill lost 4-0 at Spartans.