It was no fluke, says Bo'ness Athletic boss Willie Irvine after 7-3 friendly win over Linlithgow Rose

The top tier leaders made the short trip to Newtown Park and were duly blown away by Athletic's firepower, with 42 goal hitman Tiwi Daramola grabbing four goals, while Grant Rose, Dylan Paterson and Michael Weir also got on the scoresheet.

"We were well worthy of the win and by that sort of margin,” Irvine said. “It was a good match for us to play because it gave the guys a chance to play against a team at a high level. ”It is easy to say that we believe we have players of that quality, but you need to show that against the teams at that level and we did again, as we have done in any competitive fixture against sides from the Premier Division, or even the Lowland League.

"It was no fluke, that’s for sure. I am sure it will give the guys confidence even although we conceded some daft goals to them in the first half.

"With the game off at the weekend it made sense to arrange a match as January we have a wee bit of time until our final game of the year.

"Games always get called off in January too so we want to be as fit as possible just in case that happens. We want to stay sharp and focused.”

Athletic currently sit top of the Third Division on 46 points, having only lost once all season long. Irvine’s side will also face district rivals Camelon Juniors in a friendly later on this week.