ARTHURLIE coach Craig Palmer has revealed his players were disappointed with their performance at Forth Wanderers on Saturday...despite going top of the league.

The 2-1 victory has moved the Barrhead club to the summit of Conference A of the West of Scotland Football League, with previous pacesetters Shotts Bon Accord in Scottish Junior Cup action at the weekend.

Arthurlie have been in relentless form this season as they remain undefeated with 17 wins from 18 games but hadn’t previously been able to make top spot their own, as Shotts have also been ruthless.

Palmer insists it was all about picking up a win against Forth.

He told Barrhead Sport: “It was our first game back after the break, so the guys had been idle for five weeks.

“Forth is a hard place to go and the park wasn’t great and they made it hard for us but it was all about the three points. We were hanging on towards the end and they definitely gave us a fright.

“I said to the boys after the game that their performance wasn’t great and they all know that. They were disappointed but, at the end of the day, the scoreline showed 2-1 to us and moves us to the top of the league, so I can’t complain too much.

“The ultimate goal is to be top of the league come the end of the season and the boys all want to be playing where we believe their ability demands they should play, which is the Premier Division.”

Arthurlie had early chances against Forth as Darren Ramsay and Gary Smith both missed the target before Gary Carroll scored from the penalty spot just before half-time.

Smith made amends for his earlier miss when he doubled his team’s lead 20 minutes into the second half with a neat finish from a tight angle.

The hosts set up a tense finale with five minutes to go as they pulled one back and perhaps should have equalised in the closing stages but Arthurlie managed to secure all three points.

Palmer’s troops face Glasgow United in the West of Scotland Cup this Saturday and, although he is keen to win that tie, he admits the league is the priority.

He added: “You want to win every game but, ultimately, it’s about the league, so to be coming away from that again after just starting up is a bit frustrating.”

Kick-off at Dunterlie Park on Saturday is at 1.30pm.