Linlithgow Rose boss Gordon Herd says cup win puts 'psychological dent' in Penicuik's title hopes

Linlithgow Rose boss Gordon Herd believes they’ve put a “psychological dent” in East of Scotland League Premier Division title rivals Penicuik Athletic.

Rose are a point behind Penicuik in the league, but they were miles ahead of their opponents in Saturday’s 5-0 humbling in the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup.

Racking up the goals in a dominant display at Prestonfield, Rose are through to the quarter-finals and are getting better as the season goes on.

Nicky Riley, the former Dundee and Peterhead attacking midfielder who signed on Friday night was on the bench, bolstering Rose for the second half of the season.

Linlithgow’s top goalscorer Mark Stowe struck a double, his first goal arriving after just 12 seconds – without a visiting player touching the ball – in a blistering start.

Conor McKenzie, Callum Bremner and Alan Sneddon also got on the scoresheet for their 18th victory in a row.

“We were excellent, after the first 20 to 25 minutes we just totally blew them away and that’s the standard of performance that we’ve been looking for. The place is buzzing, it’s a dream,” said Herd.

Mark Stowe netted twice for Linlithgow in the 5-0 cup win over Penicuik

“It’s all credit to the players, they’ve been absolutely magnificent.

“Their attitudes towards training and approaching games has been brilliant, they have never let us down.

“We knew if we got an early goal it could be a good day for us, and we couldn’t have asked for anything more, it couldn’t have went any better on Saturday. We knew they would be hurting but we also knew they’d been on a bad run.

“To be fair to Penicuik, they tried to play. Teams have sat in against us and made it difficult for us, but they came and tried to play the right way, they just caught us on a day where we were unplayable.

“Penicuik were coming in hurting with one win in four.

“They had been making noises about us without actually mentioning us, so we knew we could get in there heads with a result.

“Nothing has been won yet, but it was a big result for us – getting into the quarter finals of a cup and psychology putting a wee dent in Penicuik, hopefully.

“I promised Jon Mahoney [chairman] when we went in for the job interview, that we would bring back a trophy.

“We are on course but there is still a long way to go, nothing has been won yet.”

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