STENHOUSEMUIR 3 SHIRE 0

The new year began exactly as the old one had ended, in comprehensive defeat.

In an almost exact reversal of the weekend defeat against Montrose, Shire were battered in the first half while managing to compete well after the interval.

The damage was done in the first quarter of the match and was largely self-inflicted.

Carl Thywissen's 13th minute jersey tug on Warriors' striker Scott Dalziel inside the penalty area resulted in a penalty kick, which the debutant Dalziel, signed earlier in the day from Cowdenbeath, wasted no time in rolling past Michael Brown into the net.

Dalziel was casing all sorts of problems and was clean through on goal moments later only this time he was denied by a fine piece of goalkeeping from Brown.

But on 18 minutes the game was as good as over when Paul Doyle and Thywissen failed to deal with Steven Ferguson's long ball on the edge of the box and the alert Dalziel nipped in to send a perfectly-judged lob over the advancing Brown.

Graham Gibson then forced another good save from the Shire keeper before the Warriors went 3-0 up after 30 minutes. Some clever passing involving Steven Ferguson sent Willie Lyle racing forward and the full-back's shot from a tight angle found the far corner of the net.

Shire tried to respond but the closest they came before the break was a Thywissen header from Craig Donaldson's free-kick which shaved the top of the crossbar.

Godon Wylde made changes at the interval, withdrawing Doyle and Sean Simpson and replacing them with Stephen Oates and Gary Kelly.

The personnel and positional changes had a clear impact and, within three minutes Marc McKenzie should have reduced the leeway but sent his shot blazing over the bar.

Shire then enjoyed a sustained period of pressure but couldn't turn it into clear scoring opportunities, never mind the goals they required.

The closest they cvame was an Andrew Brand shot from just inside the penalty area that crashed off the Stenhousemuir crossbar with the keeper beaten.

After that miss the game just fizzled out, with Stenhousemuir winning as comfortably as the scoreline indicates.

Stenhousemuir : Brown, McEwan, Lyle, Thom, Gilbride, Tyrrell, Gibson, Ferguson, Dalziel(McManus 80), Hampshire, McLaughlin.

Shire : Brown, Gibb, K. McBride, Doyle(Oates 46), Thywissen, Brownlie, McKenzie, Brand, Simpson(Kelly 46), Donaldson, Ure.

Referee : A. Law

Attendance : 477.

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