DALRY Thistle boss Chris Wilson says his players should take belief from their performance after dumping Glenafton Athletic out of the South Challenge Cup.

Despite being three leagues below their opposition, Third Division side Thistle put in an outstanding showing the secure a 2-0 win, and progression into the third round of the competition.

The game on Saturday, September 14, was goalless at the break, but second half strikes from Jamie Catlow and Fraser Cowan secured the shock result at Loch Park.

It is the second Premier Division scalp taken by Dalry in the past two seasons - after they dumped Pollok out of the Scottish Junior Cup less than one year ago.

Wilson commented: “I don’t think anybody that was there could say that we didn’t deserve it.

“Last year we went to Pollok and knocked them out – for long parts of the game it was backs against the wall.

“Over the piece on Saturday, I think we had more chances than them.

“The plan was to go out and frustrate them, we done that in the first half. Second half we said to them to keep doing what we were doing.

“We kept picking them off on the break and I just felt we played better than them.”

Wilson says he came in for praise from supporters following the match for the perfect game plan which helped execute the shock.

But the Merksworth Park boss was quick to shift praise over to his players for their execution of the game plan, adding that every player was "immense" on the day.

He continued: “A couple of the supporters said the tactics were spot on – they’re only spot on if the players carry them out and they did – to a man.

“It was just one of those days where every player in the group were at the top of their game. That’s what we can achieve if we are at the top of our game.

“We didn’t give away goals or make silly mistakes, we were very professional in what we done and carried out the game plan brilliantly.

“The players deserve huge credit, there are some really young players in that squad – to go there and do what we done, as comfortably as we done it, is a huge credit to them.”

Wilson hopes the result will give his players belief in their ability which can help push them on in their aim for promotion from the WoSFL Third Division this season.

He added: “Promotion has always been the target this year, that’s what we’ve set out to do – but I think it’s great when you come up against these bigger teams.

“I genuinely believe all the players I’ve got, every one of them can play at that level.

“They might not be ready yet to play that level every week but when they are at it they’re capable.

“It gives our players an opportunity to see that, it’s just a case of taking that into the league now – it gives them that wee bit of belief that we need.”

However, he says this will be no easy task, with Saturdays cup fixtures showing just how strong the league is.

Wilson commented: “What I would say is teams in our league are going and beating teams from higher leagues – our division is not poor.

“There are seven or eight teams from the Third Division into the next round of the cup – that shows you the quality of our league.

“I don’t think a lot of people appreciate that, there are a lot of really good teams in the league – and if you’re not at it you get punished.”

Next up for Thistle is a home tie against Longside in the Scottish Junior Cup, with kick off at 2.30pm.