29-04-2025
Party time as Lochar Thistle win first ever South of Scotland League title
It was party time for Lochar Thistle after they won their first ever South of Scotland League title. The Dumfries side beat Creetown 3-0 on Saturday to lift the trophy for the first time. And the full-time whistle sparked wild scenes at Wilson Park – and elsewhere. Boss Chris Jardine said: 'We had nothing planned but we just spent the weekend in The Lochar pub! It was an enjoyable couple of days. 'I'm just glad to get it done on Saturday and we can relax when we play Dalbeattie Star this weekend. 'We've still got three semi-finals to play so it means we can rest boys a wee bit. 'We scored pretty early, which settled the nerves quickly, and the players were able to relax a wee bit. 'The first half wasn't that great. We told the boys it would be a bit flat if that was how we went out. 'The second half was better, we could probably have won by a bit more, but we were happy with that.' Goals from Jordan Muirhead and Rory Copland had Lochar looking good at the break, with Scott Milligan getting the third in the second half to ensure the party could begin. Lochar have been in contention for the title all season but it wasn't until the last few weeks of the season that Jardine felt it was really on. He said: 'It's wasn't until we beat Nithsdale up there as that's always a hard place to go. 'I think when we won that, knowing we had two home league games to come before Dalbeattie in our final game, I felt as though we had one hand on it. 'I was still nervous on Saturday right up until we scored the third goal – I wasn't relaxed. Click here for more news and sport from Dumfries and Galloway. 'We've had a ridiculous run of fixtures, the catch-up we've had to play has been unbelievable. 'I always knew it would be difficult. We lost the first two - against Newton and Abbey Vale – and I was worried at that point. 'The boys have done really well to just go on that win to clinch it. 'The league was the target at start of the season. When I came in three years ago I said to Russell Caskie the secretary, who was the one that got me into the club, that I wanted to win the league for Lochar. 'That's always been the ambition since we came in.'
