St Cuthbert Wanderers boss Jordan Williamson insists his side’s “feet are firmly on the ground” following their derby day victory.
Saints defeated Threave Rovers 4-2 at Meadow Park on Saturday to move seven points clear in the race for the South of Scotland League title.
And with just seven games left, it puts them in pole position to claim the crown.
However, Williamson said: “There are internal targets we spoke to the players about regarding how we feel we need to approach the campaign and where we need to pick up points to find ourselves in a position to look at things differently.
“Their feet are firmly on the ground. Because we set targets the players know they can’t think about anything else. Obviously the boys were delighted after the game to have won the derby and got three points but in terms of looking at the eague as a whole, they know there is still a lot to do.”
Saints took the lead after a quarter of an hour when Thomas Kelly scored from the spot after Russell Williamson had been fouled.
Scott Ballantyne doubled the lead almost immediately, the same player making it 3-0 after little more than half an hour.
The score stayed the same until Phil Middlemiss struck after an hour to give Threave hope and a grand stand finish seemed in store when Callum Williams reduced the gap further with 15 minutes left.
However, three minutes from time Ross Hunter scored to seal victory for Saints, Threave having Williams sent off just before full-time.
Williamson said: “I’m delighted for the boys and everyone associated with the club. We know how much it means to everyone associated with Saints and the players got that too.
“Right from the off we were brilliant. It’s maybe the best we’ve played all season. We built ourselves up, created chances and were on the front foot from the get go. We told the players not to sit back and let the occasion of the derby come onto them and to make sure they took the game to Threave.
“To have the lead we did at half-time was fully merited for the performance we put in. We said to them it would perhaps turn more into a cup game as Threave would have nothing to lose.
“They started to throw a lot of bodies forward. We knew they were probably going to score at some point, the main thing was stay resolute and not crumble off the back of conceding.
“When the second goal went in it could maybe have been in the players’ minds what would happen if they conceded again but instead it gave the players a wake up call to start to try to play a bit higher and get more into their faces rather than just trying to see out the game.
