ARDEER Thistle boss Sean Kenney said he was "really proud" of how his side battled to victory on the opening day of the league season.

The Stevenston side earned a 3-1 win at home to fellow North Ayrshire outfit Dalry Thistle in the first match of their West of Scotland Football League (WoSFL) Third Division campaign.

But the win was far from straightforward despite captain Andy McGregor giving the home side an early lead.

A red card for Owen Densham forced Ardeer to play for 55 minutes with 10 men.

But the hosts seized the initiative at the start of the second half, with Thomas Donovan doubling their lead before Greg Kean added a third from the spot.

Kenney's men still had more than half an hour to play a man short, but despite Shay Doyle's strike giving Dalry hope heading into the final 10 minutes, the home side held out to secure all three points.

“I thought we started slow," the Ardeer manager told the club's social media team. 

"Dalry started better than us but ten minutes in we got a grip of the game.

“That’s what we’ve been working on. Everything I spoke about we did well.

“We looked really good in the first half, and we’ve gone up a goal. It was a cracking goal as well.

“But I thought we should have scored more in the first half. We could have been a wee bit more ruthless.”

And Kenney said he was delighted at the way his players responded after Densham was sent off.

"Going down to ten men with 55 minutes to go is a sore one," he said, "but you’ve got to give the boys credit.

“There was no feeling sorry for ourselves at all. We were going to get it done.

“All the boys were excellent. We didn’t have a bad player today, I’m really proud of them.

“It’s something we say to them a lot. I want to see what kind of characters they are, and you only find out when a setback like that happens.

“The boys stuck together and the shape, the work rate and how good they defended was all top drawer.”

But the Ardeer boss says he's determined not to bask in the glow of his team's opening day win, with a trip to Lugar next up for his players on Wednesday, July 31.

"We’re looking for consistency now," he said.

"We know how I want us to play, so there are no excuses not to do it.

“We don’t get too high and we don’t get too low. We enjoy the win, but we need to move on and switch on to Lugar.

“I don’t want three points out the first two games. I want six points. That’s the challenge that’s been set for the boys.”

Wednesday's game at Rosebank Park gets under way at 7.30pm; Ardeer then play host to Glasgow University on Saturday, August 3 with a 2pm kick-off.