Whitburn boss Darren Wilson believes promotion from the East of Scotland Conference X is only the beginning for his side and admits he's 'on cloud nine' following the club's success.
The Burnie booked their place in next season’s EoS Division Two with a 4-1 home win over Stoneyburn on Saturday and admitted he’s full of pride for everyone at the club.
Friday night’s draw between Armadale Thistle and Bo’ness Athletic made the maths simple for Whitburn - win and they would go up.
Goals early on in both halves from Darren Liddell and Aiden Martin appeared to make it job done but Ryan Robertson’s long-range strike on 54 minutes made for a nervy spell before the home side bagged two goals in quick succession in the final minutes.
Liddell slammed home from close range on 84 minutes before Lewis Anderson completed the scoring two minutes later to spark a Central Park promotion party.
Wilson said: “The objective was to get promoted and it’s been a great league. You’ve got to give a huge amount of credit to Syngenta, Armadale and Bo’ness because it’s been a brilliant race for promotion.
“Last night’s result was huge because it gave us momentum heading into today and we were able to get the job done.
“It was actually a bit of a difficult one when we went 2-0 up because we’re behind on goal difference and maybe the instinct of the players was to go and get another goal and maybe build on that.
“I said to the guys it was about getting the three points first and promotion but the mindset seemed to changed when we went two goals up and it’s actually led to their goal because we rushed a throw-in.
“We got caught up in thinking about more than what we needed to do and, I’m not going to lie, at 2-1 I was panicking a bit but we got the goals at the end and we were able to enjoy a great moment.”
He added: “The character we’ve shown over the course of the season, and in recent weeks, I don’t think anyone can say we don’t deserve to go up.
“The way we’ve gone about our business has been great and we’re trying to achieve something more at this club. There’s huge potential here and maybe folk have underestimated us.
“I think we’re going to get stronger and I’m proud of the players, I’m proud of myself and I’m proud of everyone at the club for what we’ve achieved this season.
“It’s a real credit to the club and players want to stay here because they enjoy it - that speaks volumes about Whitburn.
“We’re on cloud nine and we’re going to enjoy it. My wife might not see me until Tuesday.”
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