Bathgate Thistle 3 v 0 Murieston United Blues

Wednesday 22 April – League – Bathgate Sports Centre

Starting Line Up; Jake, Leon, James, Ross, Sean, David, Sam, Lewis, Connor, Elliot, Bailey. Subs; Harry, Aidan, Bally

Bathgate are on a high, coming off the weekend’s magnificent County cup victory against Armadale. Harry is back in the squad today, but Scott is missing. It’s a warm and still evening, perfect for football. Thistle are playing in their black away kit.  It’s back to league duty tonight, with Bathgate playing catch up after multiple postponed matches over the winter

Bathgate have been starting matches very strongly in recent weeks and more often than not it has resulted in an early goal. Bailey almost scores within the opening two minutes but shoots over the bar from close in. It’s an early sign that the surface isn’t ideal, it’s very hard and the bounce is proving hard to judge.  However, it only takes 5 minutes for Bathgate to take the lead. Ross takes a quick throw in which Bailey controls and passes to Lewis. Lewis clinically finishes with an accurate low shot into the bottom left of the goal. Great goal. Bathgate Thistle 1 v 0 Murieston United Blues.

Thistle’s lead is doubled on 12 minutes when Elliot wins the ball in midfield and finds Bailey with a ball over the top. Bailey does well to hold off some strong challenges to run through and beat the keeper. Bathgate Thistle 2 v 0 Murieston United Blues.

Bathgate are well on top now but the game is scrappy. Play is too compressed in the middle of the pitch, the coaches are urging Thistle to spread play and make more use of the width of the pitch. Bathgate change things around on 25 minutes with Connor making way for Harry.

The sides go in 2-0 at half time. Bathagte make a couple of changes at half time with Bally and Aidan on for Lewis and David. Bally makes an immediate impression on the game, creating opportunities with some neat passing, but despite relentless pressure resulting in effort after effort; Bathgate just don’t seem able to hit the target or beat the keeper.

At the other end, Jake is a spectator. Murieston have been able to break down the Bathgate defence and have had no more than 3 shots on goal during the entire game. On one of their rare attacks, play breaks down and Lewis picks up the ball near his own corner flag. He finds Elliot with a great pass up the wing, who in turn finds Aidan. Aidan beats a couple of defenders and gets his shot away, it’s saved but his determination wins through and he’s first to the rebound to score. Bathgate Thistle 3 v 0 Murieston United Blues.

It’s been an under par performance from Bathgate this evening, but the result never looked in doubt and it is another clean sheet. Final score – Bathgate Thistle 3 v 0 Murieston United Blues. Thistle are catching up and making ground on Petersburn in the league table.

	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
1	Broxburn Ath Colts	13	13	0	0	26
2	Armadale Falcons Calcio	14	12	1	1	25
3	Petersburn Thistle	13	10	0	3	20
4	Bathgate Thistle	10	7	0	3	14
5	Kirkfield Utd	14	5	3	6	13
6	Victoria FC	14	5	1	8	11
7	Forth Athletic	14	4	2	8	10
8	Blackburn Utd	14	3	2	9	8
9	Grange FC	14	1	2	11	4
10	Murieston Utd Blue	14	1	1	12	3