CHAMPAGNE was sprayed liberally around Bellsdale Park on Saturday as Beith Juniors celebrated one of the biggest triumphs in their history.

They lifted the Super League Premier Division for the first time in eight years.

Beith hammered Girvan 6-0 in their final match and were helped with a favour by Cumnock, who held Auchinleck Talbot to a 2-2 draw, helping them seal the coveted prize.

Goalscorer Darren Christie said being written off by their critics ultimately helped pave the way for their success.

The midfielder said: "We just had to win the game, it wasn't about goals. We were written off by Kilwinning in January or February when we lost to them at Abbey Park but that just spurred us on. We just kept plugging away and working hard. We won a few home games near the end of the season and that helped.

"It feels really special to win this after winning the Scottish Cup two years ago and we need to now is win the West of Scotland Cup. We are in the quarter-finals against Cumnock on Wednesday night, hopefully we can get through."

Defender Kevin MacDonald added: "This is unbelievable as we missed the league by two points last year. A few weeks ago people thought we had blown it, but we still believed at the end of the day if we did our job we had a chance and luckily Cumnock did us a favour and themselves a favour as it was a derby. We have a squad of good players, you just have to believe."

Manager Johnny Millar added: "It was fantastic, we had a phone beside us and heard Auchinleck had been 2-0 up but Cumnock came back, we knew what was going on as the people beside us had phones. We were written off so many times but we came strong at the end of the day. We finished the season well, we kept winning games and no-one was speaking much about us winning the league. The table does not lie, we won the league and scored more goals than anyone. No-one won any more games than us."

Striker Thomas Collins added: "It's great to win my first league title and I'm top scorer with 18 goals this season. We fully deserve it. Condolences to Talbot. We really look forward to the senior Scottish Cup next season and hopefully we get a big tie like the Morton one a couple of seasons ago."