Shotts boss hails his table toppers after five-star show against Maybole

Shotts boss John McKeown praised his players for taking his criticism on board and rising to the occasion to fire the club back to the top of the table.

The Bonny battered Maybole 5-1 at Hannah Park to go a point clear of rivals Rutherglen Glencairn at the West of Scotland First Division summit, with goals spread throughout the team.

Shotts, who ended the game with 10 men after Josh Gracie saw red, opened the scoring through Adam Hunter early on and were 3-0 up at the break after strikes from Danny Burns and Jack Gordon.

Gracie picked up a second booking early in the second half but Paul McGeough extended Shotts’ lead. Maybole pulled a goal back before Ben Richford completed the rout.

It saw Shotts return to winning ways after their recent 4-4 draw with Cambuslang Rangers and McKeown said: “It was a massive improvement on last week.

“I have been a wee bit critical of them in recent weeks because I knew they had a bit more in the tank, but they produced it on Saturday, so fair play to them.

“We were on it from the first whistle, dominated and looked quite comfortable.

“Even when we went down to 10 men, we looked the more likely to add to the scoreline.

“Adam Hunter started us off and he was excellent. He is still finding his feet a bit after having a bit of time out of football, but he was tremendous.

“He played a part in the other goals, assisting some of them, and Danny Burns seems to be finding his feet after scoring again for us.

“Even the subs came on and added to our score, so it was a full team effort.

“We were night and day from the last few weeks, it was much more like

us, but I am not getting carried away. It’s going to be a long, hard winter and with the budget we have at our disposal, we know we are going to