Whitburn strolled to a 6-1 victory over Bathgate Thistle in a contest that saw the Jags reduced to eight men and their manager step in as makeshift goalkeeper, writes Kieran Polland.
The Burnie’s top scorer Reece Duncan opened the scoring at Central Park, before Bathgate drew level thanks to Kai Wilson shortly after.
Whitburn regained the lead against the run of play after Darren Liddell managed to slot past Sean Brown in the Jags goal, before Duncan capitalised on a defensive error to put Whitburn 3-1 in front.
There was drama right before half-time when Brown was shown a red card for a foul on Duncan just outside the box, despite the protestations of the Bathgate defenders who believed they would have been able to cover.
With manager Stewart Devine having to step in between the sticks and reduced to 10 men, Bathgate were unable to stem the Whitburn tide and the hosts bagged three more goals after the break.
Duncan would grab his hat-trick before substitutes Dewi Taylor and Jack Henderson added some gloss to the scoreline.
To add insult to injury for the Jags, defender Gregor Dryden was also given his marching orders for a second yellow card, before captain Fraser Cormack was given a straight red card for a foul on Liddell in the dying minutes of the game.
The victory leaves Whitburn one point behind Bo’ness Athletic at the top of the Conference X table having played a game more, while Bathgate remain rooted to the bottom two points behind Pumpherston.
It didn’t take long for the scoring to start when Duncan latched onto a great through ball by Grant Hamilton and curled a shot low into the corner after five minutes.
Bathgate instantly responded as Wilson beat the offside trap to slot past Daniel Potts and level things up.
Despite Bathgate then controlling most of the possession, it was Whitburn who took the lead again after Liddell managed to slip his shot under Brown.
Duncan then stretched the lead in the 43rd minute before Brown was sent off for bringing down the Whitburn forward moments later.
Striker Ally McInnes went in goal for the remainder of the first half before manager Devine took the gloves after the interval.
Whitburn extended their lead early on after the break when Duncan was able to stumble the ball over the line following a stramash in the goalmouth.
There could have been more goals as Stuart McIntyre managed to round Devine before mishitting his attempt at goal.
Thistle’s makeshift keeper was unlucky to see the next two goals come off the back of rebounds as Taylor nicked his goal after Liddell’s shot fired off the keeper straight into the path of the substitute before Henderson saw his attempt rebound off Devine and he gobbled it up to complete the scoring.
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