Bridge of Don Thistle moved level with McBookie.com Premier League leaders Hermes, having played two games more, thanks to a 4-1 Aberdeen Sports Village win over Banchory St. Ternan.
Sam Muirhead scored his third hat-trick of the season for Thistle in the clash.
Stewart Rennie fired the home side in front after 12 minutes with a fine finish from the edge of the area and, five minutes later, Muirhead’s free-kick doubled the advantage and gave the Jags a 2-0 lead at the break.
On the hour mark, Calan Anderson-Shirreffs reduced the deficit after Kyle Murphy had conceded a free-kick just outside the box, but- eleven minutes later – Muirhead restored the two-goal advantage by being the first to react to a rebound inside the six-yard box.
Shortly afterwards, the same player completed his treble with a close-range effort.
Thistle’s manager Lewis Muirhead, while happy with his side’s form now, is at a loss as to why they always seem to struggle in the opening weeks of the season, saying: “For whatever reason, we seem to be slow starters, for which I take full responsibility for.
“We had a decent pre-season – admittedly circumstances dictated that we had to recruit late which may have had a bearing, but it’s simply not good enough.
“Our aim is to try and compete at the top end of the league and, while we’ve given other teams a huge start, we’ve just got to dig in as I’m sure every side will have their shaky spell throughout the course of the season.”
With Banks o’ Dee now in the Highland League, Muirhead feels the top-flight is providing more entertainment, adding: “It’s definitely more competitive and there’s a lot of goals being shared around so, all in all, it seems to be an exciting league.
“Internally, it’ll be a great success for whoever wins the division, but, externally, there’ll be folk who say that if Banks o’ Dee were still around you wouldn’t have won it and that’s only natural, but you can only play what’s in front of you.
“More and more teams also seem to be putting more emphasis on youth and I believe that’s having a positive effect on crowds as parents and others are coming along to watch as they have done through the age groups. So, as I say, we’ve just got to hang in there and see where it takes us.”
Thistle are next in action on Friday, when they make the short trip to Lochside Park to play pacesetters Hermes – with the chance for both sides to go clear at the top.
Kick-off is at 7.45pm.
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