The Brandanes were undoubtedly worthy winners against a Muirend side who needed a win to keep alive their own promotion prospects, and who were allowed by an overly-lenient referee to adopt some questionable tactics in order to do so.

The Rothesay men, kicking towards the High Street in the first half, went on the attack straight from the kick-off and thought they had taken the lead in only the second minute, only for Iain Livingstone's goal to be disallowed for a debatable offside infringement.

Stuart McKechnie forced a good save from the Muirend keeper with a fifth minute free kick after Wes Pattison was hacked down by the Muirend number six, but the opening goal wasn't long in coming, the Danes springing Muirend's offside trap in the ninth minute when Pattison made a perfectly-timed run on to a through ball to open the scoring with a lob over the keeper's head.

With both teams still in the promotion hunt the game was being played like a cup tie, but Muirend soon resorted to pulling their opponents down at every opportunity, infractions which the referee completely failed to punish as he neglected to take a proper grip on the game.

Pattison, Livingstone, McKerrell and Stuart Brady all went close as the Danes pushed forward, but Pattison in particular was soon singled out by the Muirend players as a potential danger and was targeted with heavy tackles at every opportunity.

On 35 minutes Pattison was hacked down again by Muirend's number six, and two minutes later he was elbowed in the face by the same player, only for the referee to once more ignore the offence.

But worse was to come for the hosts on 38 minutes when a through ball found Muirend's striker in what seemed a clear offside position, only for the referee to wave play on and allow the visitors to level the score.

Muirend's number six was finally shown a yellow card after yet another horrendous tackle - though by this time the home support were in no doubt he should have been off the park - and half time arrived with the teams tied at 1-1.

The visitors started the second half with a brief flurry, but a good Danes back four, well marshalled by stand-in skipper John Morrison, gave nothing away.

At the other end another dreadful decision saw the Danes denied a second goal on 52 minutes, the referee disallowing a goal for offside after a goalmouth scramble despite the clear presence of two Muirend defenders on their goal line.

But there was no dubiety about the move which saw the Brandanes regain the lead three minutes later when Brady played a good ball to McKerrell, who forced a good save from the Muirend keeper; the resulting corner was only cleared as far as McKerrell, who drilled a low shot into the net from 25 yards to put the hosts back in front.

Livingstone, who had run his heart out all game, came off to the applause of his team-mates on 65 minutes, Darren Harper coming on in his place, and though the Danes kept pushing forward in search of a third they were continually hacked down by a Muirend defence determined to stop their hosts at any cost.

From the sidelines the Danes support were more worried about a serious injury to one of their players than about the prospect of a second Muirend goal as the visitors' tackles grew ever more heavy.

Justin Tait made way for Eddie Lench with 15 minutes to go - the midfielder applauded off the park after a day of hard graft against bigger and heavier opponents - and Muirend's physical approach was finally punished as the game entered its final ten minutes when the visitors' number three was booked and, within a minute, sent off for two bad challenges, the referee finally left with no alternative as the challenges grew more and more aggressive.

The referee's failure to get to grips with this standard of football was borne out moments later when McKechnie was chopped to the ground for the umpteenth time, only for the man in black to wave play on despite the Danes midfielder clearly being in pain as he lay on the deck.

Even then, when keeper James Dunn put the ball out to allow treatment for his team-mate, Muirend chose not to return possession to the nearest defender but to hoist the throw-in high in the general direction of the Danes defence and charge off in pursuit of possession; happily the visitors' approach came to nothing and the hosts were well worth their win when the final whistle blew.

Team: Dunn, McMillan, Morrison (c), McGregor, Poole, McKerrell, McKechnie, Tait (Lench), Livingstone (Harper), Brady, Pattison.

The Brandanes remain in second place in the Caledonian League table this week after Cambusbarron, leaders on goal difference going into Saturday's games, consolidated their position with a 5-2 win at home to Rhu Amateurs.

Third placed Westerlands were on cup duty on Saturday, losing 1-0 at Bearsden in the Queen's Park Challenge Cup, meaning they still have a large handful of games in hand on the top two.

The Brandanes are away from home this Saturday, April 12, in a Caledonian League fixture against Rhu Amateurs, kicking off at 2.30pm.