SHAUN RODGERS led the way with a hat-trick on Saturday as Port Glasgow made amends for their loss at home to league leaders Knightswood with a thumping 6-2 win away to Saltcoats Victoria.
And the Undertakers' day was made even better by the news after the match that the table-topping Glasgow side had tumbled to a shock defeat at the hands of lowly Royal Albert.
Former Port manager Stevie Wilson's Saltcoats side were much improved from the teams' last meeting at Parklea in August, when the Port won 3-0 - and came into the match in good form, with three wins and a draw from their last four league matches.
And if any of Tam Jamieson's players thought they were in for a straightforward afternoon at Campbell Park, they were disabused of that notion within two minutes of kick-off, when Saltcoats mounted an early assault on the visitors' goal and Josh McLaughlin conceded a corner by blocking a shot - and from the resulting set-pieces, McIntyre's late run wasn't picked up and he headed home the opening goal.
READ MORE: Port boss says Saltcoats clash is 'biggest test of our season'
Port looked a bit shell-shocked and after seven minutes McIntyre should have made it 2-0, but a last-minute block from Jayden McGivern stopped the visitors falling further behind.
Port’s defence was all over the place in the opening stages, and only a great save from Sam Murdoch kept the margin at a single goal.
That let-off proved to be the wake-up call the visitors needed, and from a long ball by Curtis Woods, Shaun Rodgers beat two players before striking the woodwork from the edge of the box - but Ross Kearns followed up to net the equaliser.
And the leveller was quickly followed by a second goal for the visitors, with Jayden McGivern given credit for the strike even though Dylan McLaughlin claimed to have got a touch on its way into the net.
Port were on fire now, and Shaun Rodgers won a penalty when he was upended in the box by Callum Wilson, the frontman dusting himself off to slot home the third from the spot.
The Undertakers were in no mood to let their momentum slip, and Rodgers added his second spot-kick of the day to make it four after he was brought down in the box again.
READ MORE: Jamieson says the big occasion got to his players as Port lose out to league leaders
And the Port kept up their dominance in the second half, with Rodgers completing his hat-trick in the 76th minute when he finished well from a defence-splitting pass into the box by McLaughlin.
Aidan Duffy made it six in the 88th minute with a terrific solo effort, though there was still time for Vics to have the final say, Ingram converting the third penalty kick of the match in the final minute of normal time.
Knightswood's defeat at the hands of Royal Albert means the gap between the Glasgow club and the Port is now back to four points at the top of the table - though the Port will have to be on their guard this Saturday as the Larkhall-based side come to Inverclyde with ambitions of making it a back-to-back double over the Fourth Division's top two teams.
Kick-off at Parklea on Saturday is at 2pm.
Port Glasgow are sponsored by Dragon Soup, Co-op Funeralcare, The Caledonian Bar, Autotec, Dunns MoT Centre, Clydeview Motors and Dare2Create.
