Hairdryer treatment works as Broxburn leave it late against Edinburgh United

Edinburgh United's Sean Guiney tries to tackle Broxburn's Cammie Ross

Miller, on his first start back after travelling across South America for six weeks with girlfriend Karla, pounced twice late on to help defeat dinburgh United 3-1, the Capital team certainly deserving something out of a match which could have gone either way.

Miller revealed stand-in boss Steven Hislop had some choice words to say at half-time after James Redpath’s first-half strike had given Edinburgh the lead. “We had to grind it out,” said Miller. “They played quite well and they were hard to break down. We came in at half-time and got an absolute rollocking so I think we picked it up in the second half.

“He [Hislop] went through everybody – we knew ourselves we weren’t good enough – but after his comments it was a good boot up the bum for us.

“They were well organised and we weren’t moving the ball fast enough. It could easily have gone either way; they could have got a goal just before we scored. But once we got our goal, we were on top.”

Assistant boss Hislop felt his team didn’t deserve to come away with three points.

“I don’t think we deserved it. I think they wanted it more in the first half; they were much more hungrier and aggressive. We told them they would be in their faces because we are the league leaders.

“We’ve got a bad habit of playing for 45 minutes whether it be the first half or the second half and there is only so many times you can go behind and win games. They got the deserved hairdryer treatment at half-time; I asked them to show character and they showed it.

“We made a wee tactical change just towards the end and it paid off. We put a young boy [Sol Duffy] up front who has got great hunger. He’s one of these guys who I don’t think he knows what he’s doing, so it’s hard for their defenders to know what he’s doing. He came on and never stood still and he set up both goals.

“If you want to win leagues you have to grind results out but you have to do it in a manner which isn’t going to cause you trouble. It’s not about beating Linlithgow, it’s about Broxburn. If we win it, it will be sweet no matter who finishes second.”

Third bottom Edinburgh were not expected to take anything from this match, but there was no doubt they were the better side in the opening half, with Redpath finding the top corner from just inside the area after 25 minutes from Sean Guiney’s free-kick.

Miller should have levelled just before the interval but he somehow headed over the bar from eight yards out after Ross Nimmo found him.

United striker Daniel McKinley was inches away from doubling the home side’s lead early in the second half, with his strike across goal just drifting past Conor Wallace’s right-hand post. They would pay for that miss as Gordon Donaldson volleyed in from close range to level just a minute later.

Miller put the visitors ahead with five minutes remaining as he slotted into the bottom corner and then he secured the points when he found the net via the inside of the post.

Edinburgh boss Ian Flynn was gutted not to take anything out of the match.

“I’m really disappointed. For it to happen they had to have a bad day and we had to have a good day, and for 85 minutes I think that was happening. It’s sore but that’s why they are top of the league.

“They couldn’t handle our pace up front, we were always a threat and I was surprised how many chances we created.”

Edinburgh United: Walker, Kerr, Murray (Grieve), Spalding, Guiney, Conlon, McKinlay, Autiemma, Swanney (Robertson), Redpath, Ritchie.

Broxburn Athletic: Wallace, Gillen (McGill), Donaldson, Purves, Townsley, Scott, Nimmo, Locke (Linton), Ross, Gibson (Duffy), Miller.