"I’ve had a bit of a weird season": Linlithgow Rose striker Alan Docherty on bouncing back at the right time

Alan Docherty (left) is nearing his best after a indifferent campaign

The 26-year-old has endured a frustrating campaign for the Prestonfield club after missing the whole of pre-season through injury, while other niggles have disrupted his rhythm.

Docherty was at the double on Wednesday night as Rose extended their lead at the top of the table to seven points with seven league games remaining in a 4-2 away win over Jeanfield Swifts. It was the perfect response after suffering penalty shootout heartache in Sunday’s East of Scotland Cup final against Gala Fairydean Rovers.

“It’s always disappointing to lose a cup final but the league has always been our priority and we just had to make sure we took that disappointment into Wednesday,” said Docherty. “The boys were a bit disheartened, but we knew we needed a good reaction, and it was important to bounce back. Jeanfield are a decent side, so to go to Perth in midweek and take four off them was great, I thought we were brilliant for 90 minutes.

“We dominated for an hour [on Sunday] but we just didn’t take a lot of the chances we created and we should have been well out of sight. It was just one of those games where they’ve just went for it and scored a couple of goals, and then beat us on penalties – it was well deserved in the end for them. On another day we could have walked away with five or six goals.

“Our lead is seven points just now, we know it’s not done, we just need to take each game as it comes. We are keeping our feet on the ground, we aren’t thinking about the title just yet, we are just focussing on getting three points every week.

“It’s good to be scoring again, I’ve had a bit of a weird season. I struggled with injury at the start, then I have had another couple of wee knocks. It’s a confidence thing, I knew I just needed a goal or two to get me going.”