Bathgate Thistle return to league action this Saturday when they take on Haddington Athletic at the Creamery Park.

Currently seventh in the East Premier League, a win would see the Jags move to within a point of the fourth-placed East Lothian side with a game in hand.

Though Bathgate’s past two league fixtures have both resulted in away defeats to Arniston Rangers then Lochee United, confidence is high amongst the playersfollowing last Saturday’s Scottish Junior Cup win over Greenock.

Bathgate manager Andy Colley praised his side for that determined performance but was quick to acknowledge the threat Haddington will pose to his squad.

He said: “All the players were fantastic, not many teams go through to the west and come away with a victory. The guys were bouncing all night and rightly so.

“Haddington will be a very difficult game as their league position shows. We have shown that the guys really rally round each other and make it difficult for any team to beat us.”

Looking towards the rest of the season “If I can get out a fully fit squad – which we have not had all season – and add one or two more players, I believe we can finish in the top four or five,” Colley insisted.

“We have shown we can compete and beat any team in this league. The first few games were our pre-season due to players signing late so we were playing catch up from then as the players were not match fit.”

“We started to settle down and went on a four-game winning streak then we encountered a terrible injury count which had an impact on our performances but saying that we could have got something from both the games we lost.”