FURIOUS Dalry Thistle boss Gavin Friels this week hit out after two players were red-carded in his side's 7-3 defeat away to promotion favourites Girvan.

Goalscorer Mark Archdeacon was sent off in 15 minutes for a high challenge and Craig Marshall followed him in for an early shower four minutes later for a second booking.

Thistle had stunned their highly-rated hosts by sweeping into a 3-0 lead inside 13 minutes, however the hosts blasted back to ultimately overwhelm the Merksworth Park team.

Friels feels the controversial decisions had a huge bearing on the game and said: "Mark was sent off for a high boot but all he did was try to kick the ball and it was a booking at most. I thought Craig's second booking was really harsh and even the Girvan manager Peter Leonard didn't think either player should have been sent off. I also felt their two penalties were harsh."

The Merksworth Park boss was encouraged by the display and said: "Our game plan was hit to hit them on the break and we did that by scoring three goals. It's quite a feat to score three times against a side near the top of the league. We can take a lot of positives from the way we played in the first 13 minutes."

Dalry on Saturday make the short trip to Campbell Park to face local rivals Saltcoats Victoria.

Friels goes into the match with confidence and said: "Saltcoats Vics are at a similar level to us and we will be looking to go there and take all three points. There are signs of improvement."

Meanwhile Saltcoats Vics Derek Frye took positives from his team's display despite losing 2-0 away to Irvine Victoria and said: "It was a tough game against Irvine Vics but they are a strong side and I expect them to get promotion,. We conceded a couple of poor goals but that's the story of our season. I feel we are improving all the time,. We had a few chances and played well at times. The Scottish Cup victory the week before in Midlothian gave us a lot of confidence. I had four key players missing so we that made it difficult. for us.

"Our right back Jamie Paton, who used to be at Ardrossan Winton Rovers played well and will sign him later this wee. He will be a good addition to the squad. We are work in progress and can only get better.. Hopefully we can keep pushing up the table. I feel we are improving. and we look forward to the Dalry match.