It was a perfect day for West Lothian’s East of Scotland top flight clubs with all three picking up victories - and tallying 13 goals scored between them.
Blackburn United bounced back in style from last weekend’s Scottish Cup loss to Broxburn Athletic with a resounding 5-1 away win against Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale.
Two early goals helped settle the nerves with Marcus Millar firing them in front on seven minutes before Danny Campbell bagged his first goal of the season just before the 20-minute mark with a fine free-kick.
United would create plenty of chances but were unable to add to the scoring until midway through the second half when David Howe effectively wrapped up the points.
The visitors were pegged back shortly after but were able to take full advantage of Hutchie throwing men forward in a bid to get back into the clash with Calum Heath restoring the three-goal advantage on 84 minutes before Scott Richards rounded off of fine victory by becoming the fifth United player to find the net when he fired home in injury-time.
Elsewhere, Errol Douglas shone on his return from injury with the Broxburn Athletic striker grabbing a brace in their 4-2 home win over Sauchie.
Much like United, they got off to a fast start with Douglas and Josh Jeffries both finding the net before the half-hour mark.
Douglas got on the end of a neat David Churchill pass to slam the Brox into the lead before Jeffries doubled the advantage from the spot after Jordan Orru had been fouled inside the box.
Moments earlier, the away side had gone close to levelling things up as Ross Kavanagh saw his header bounce back off the crossbar.
Sauchie came out the traps to start the second-half and were back level within 11 minutes as Scott Davidson headed past Josh Blair before former Brox man Connor Kelly laid the ball off to David McCaughie to net the equaliser.
Athletic bounced back from that disappointment in style though with Craig Henderson firing them back in front midway through the half before they were handed a major boos 10 minutes from time with Conner Willaghan being shown a red card for a late challenge on Greg Binnie.
Douglas put the game to bed three minutes from time after pouncing on a blocked shot from Craig Newall to complete the scoring.
It was also a 4-2 home win for Linlithgow Rose with Gordon Herd’s men getting the better of Jeanfield Swifts.
Sandy Cunningham and Connor McMullan had the Rose two goals up in the early stages before Mark Stowe restored the two goal lead after Jeanfield had cut the deficit.
Sean Heaver made it 4-1 with a fine finish and while Swifts were able to pull one back, the Rose comfortably saw out proceedings and claimed three points that sees them jump into second place in the table.
Ryan Robertson netted three times as Stoneyburn defeated East of Scotland Division Three promotion favourites Armadale Thistle 4-2.
The Fulshie were able to continue their strong start to the campaign despite falling behind early to a Ruari MacLennan goal.
Robertson’s first arrived from the spot but Thistle restored their lead before the break as Sammy Watson prodded home from close range.
It was a different story in the second-half, though, with Stoneyburn netting three times.
Dylan Anderson nabbed the leveller on 55 minutes before two sublime strikes from Robertson completed his hat-trick and handed Stoneyburn the three points.
Elsewhere, Livingston United remain unbeaten thanks to a 1-1 draw with Bathgate Thistle while West Calder United ran out winners in the other derby in the division, defeating Fauldhouse United 3-2.
Pumpherston lost 2-0 at home to Edinburgh College while Harthill Royal had a day to forget, losing 11-0 at Bo’ness Athletic.
In Division Two, Whitburn drew 1-1 at home to Peebles Rovers.
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