SHIRE 3 DUMBARTON 2

Fifteen minutes after kick-off in East Stirlingshire's opening home match of the season there were probably those among the Shire faithful who thought, "Here we go again..."

And they might have had good reason to think that. Minds flashed back to April when a Sons team, hungry for goals, scored early and were 4-0 ahead at half-time.

This match began as a simple cake walk for the visitors who scored twice through Fergus Tiernan to establish a lead they thought was unassailable.

But it turned out to be a false dawn rather than a new one. By the interval Shire had levelled things at 2-2 and deservedly so. Andrew Brand put the home team in front after the hour and there was no way back for Dumbarton.

In one fell swoop Shire had won their first league game since January. It was also their first home victory in eleven momnths, since Queen's Park were beaten 2-1 in September 2006.

Wylde sprung a surprise on everyone, altering the formation to 4-5-1 and leaving Derek Ure and Paul Doyle on the bench. New signing from Caley Thistle, Craig Donaldson, made his debut in midfield and Gordon Moffat held onto the right-back slot.

But the new look Shire mis-fired from kick-off. Darren Hill in goal was forced to make two great saves from Robert Campbell before ten minutes were on the clock.

And worse was to follow. After 12 minutes Hill did well to stop a netbound David Craig header but after the mother of all goalmouth scrambles, Tiernan put the visitors in front.

Three minutes later another corner, another goal. This time Hill came to collect the cross and missed the ball completely allowing Tiernan a free header to double his personal tally and Dumbarton's advantage.

But this Shire team are not ones to take things lying down. Within four minutes they were back in the match. Joe Savage was fouled on the edge of the Dumbarton box and Kevin McBride's free-kick deflected off a leg into the net.

Three minutes later Shire could have been level when Savage sent a header from a Marc McKenzie cross wide of the post. That said, Tiernan should have had his hat-trick on 39 minutes, and only a great covering tackle from Gary Kelly stopped him.

That turned out to be significant. Two minutes later Savage flicked on a ball out of defence, the Dumbarton defence hesitated and Andrew Brand was clean through with only the keeper to beat.

A week earlier, in a similar position, he battered the ball against the East Fife keeper's legs. This time, though he levelled the scores with a perfectly-taken effort.

Shire then seemed to suffer a blow when Marc McKenzie was forced of with an ankle injury, replaced by Paul Doyle on 43 minutes.

But Shire still had to ride their luck. A minute after the interval Savage headed a netbound effort off the line from Dave McFarlane , and minutes later the Sons man only had to roll the ball into an empty net but hit it straight at Hill.

The Shire keeper was a busy man in this phase of the game and again had to look smart to deny McFarlane with a great stop after the Sons' striker exchanged passes with Tommy Coyne.

The home team's transformation was complete after an hour. Brand surged towards the visiting goal from the half way line and, despite there being passing options ahead, he chose to send in an unstoppable drive which flew into the keeper's bottom right hand corner of the net.

Shire started to show a bit more confidence and twice Gordon Moffat cracked in long-range efforts that went close. Savage could also have added to the tally but was foiled by a good save.

Dumbarton ran out of ideas and the longer the game went on the more they seemed resigned to the fact it wasn't going to be their day. But they could still have sneakd an equaliser at the last.

The full-time whistle was a long sigh of relief.

Shire : Hill, Moffat, K. McBride, King, Thywissen, Kelly(Struthers 74),McKenzie(Doyle 43), Brand, Savage, Donaldson, McLaren(Ure 62).

Dumbarton : Shaw, Geggan, Russell, O'Byrne, Craig, Canning(Gentile 74), Hamilton(McNaught 78), Tiernan, Coyne, McFarlane, Campbell.

Referee : A. Boyd

Attendance : 306.

 

Back