With Culter’s clash at Banchory St Ternan one of several to fall victim to the weather, Bridge of Don Thistle took full advantage by edging their tight Lochside Park encounter with Hermes and move to the top of the McBookie.com Superleague table.
Following a scrappy first half, the only goal of the game arrived midway through the second period when Nicky Gordon’s well-flighted cross was met superbly by David Booth, whose glancing header gave Greg Simpson no chance.
Jags boss Steve Dolan was relieved to pick up all three points.
The former Deveronvale manager said: “It was a good win at a very difficult place to go to. The first half was a hundred miles an hour stuff, but I felt we controlled the game in the second period.
“After the goal, we defended well and saw the game out. It was always going to be tough and there wasn’t much in it at all, but we probably just about shaded it.”
After a blip at the end of October and at the start of last month, which saw consecutive defeats at the hands of Dyce and Colony Park, Dolan feels that his squad are back to playing at the levels he knows they are capable of.
He said: “We did have a bit of a wobble a few weeks ago. but since then we’ve been back on the right track.
“The fact that the players were disappointed after the draw with Banks o’ Dee is good and shows we have our hunger back.
“They’re the types of matches we should be looking to compete at.
“Some folk were saying it was a great result, but we were at home and we should always be looking to pick up three points there.
“It’s good to be top of the table, but there’s a long way to go and we’ll just be focussing on our own game and what we do.”
Next up for Thistle is a home clash with Superleague basement boys Deveronside in the final fixture of the calendar year, and Steve goes into that one with a full squad apart from Bradley Deans, who has a calf injury.
Dolan said: “From my time at Deveronvale, I know a few of their boys, but we just need to keep working hard and keep the momentum going.
“I haven’t ruled out adding to the squad, but we’ll only bring anyone in who is going to add additional quality. We have an excellent group of boys here and we won’t bring players in just for the sake of it.”
