ARDEER Thistle boss Sean Kenney hailed the “army” of supporters behind Ardeer on Saturday.

This weekend saw Thistle play their first competitive home match since December 3, as they hosted Forth Wanderers.

And it was a triumphant return to Stevenston, as Kenney’s side pulled out of the relegation zone in the WoSFL Second Division with a 2-0 win.

The match didn’t always look like it would fall in the home side’s favour however, after the teams went in it half time with the game goalless.

The game then turned on the 54th minute, with the introduction of Dylan Stevenson, who has returned from injury.

Ardeer got ahead only five minutes later through Joe Young, before Stevenson laid on captain Marc Wardrope to nod home the killer second goal with little over 15 minutes remaining.

Forth had their chance to make the ending nervy for Ardeer but would miss a penalty in the last 10 minutes of the game.

Following the match, Kenney hailed his players for how they came out after the half time team talk.

He told the club’s media team: “These boys are taking a lot of knocks right now, losing games of football, everyone’s got something to say about us.

“The thing that worries me about those boys is they don’t believe in themselves sometimes – that’s what gets me really angry. They’re really good players, and that’s all I told them. I’m proud of them big time for the second half.

“They’ve got the rewards that they deserve today, they’ve dug in, they’ve stuck together, they were absolutely brilliant.”

While it wasn’t just the players he praised, as Kenney paid homage to the home support on Thistle’s return to Stevenston after two long months.

He said: “That’s what you sign up to when you come here. You might be missing some stuff, you might not have other stuff, but what you’ve always got is an army behind you.

“You need to love that, you need to enjoy that, you need to be proud of that as well.

“That’s what it’s all about, from the fans, to the committee, to the players – we’ve all got to be in this together.”