A man of many clubs, the 37-year-old has never been accepted by a section of the Shire support since his summer arrival from Stenhousemuir.

And his latest appearance gave the disaffected faithful another chance to wear their 'I Told You So' t-shirts.

Hillcoat's decision to race from his line to bring down Annan striker Steve Archibald inside the box just four minutes after the break left referee George Salmond little choice but to award a penalty and give the home side, 1-0 down at the time, a lifeline back into the game.

It also left Shire coach Jim McInally bemused. "It was a disastrous decision from the goalkeeper and it changed the whole course of the game," he said. "But we didn't play well at all. We made lots of silly mistakes and it seemed at times the players had only met each other for the first time.

"The performance as a whole was unacceptable. But you have to give Annan credit for their determination and their desire to win, which was a lot better than ours."

Hillcoat almost made amends for his error by getting one hand to Mike Jack's spot kick, but he couldn't prevent it from entering the net and, from that point on, you feared for Shire.

The home side drove forward in waves – their determination to find another goal was almost fanatical at times. But the Shire defence, just about the only part of the team that could take any credit from their display, seemed to hold firm.

That was until the game's final minute when they backed off as Steven Sloan raced from the half-way line to the edge of the penalty box before unleashing a superb drive to beat Hillcoat for the winner.

As sickening as it was for everyone connected with Shire you could hardly say it was undeserved.

"It was a massive disappointment," said the Shire coach. "I thought we were stealing it at one each.

"Both goals were criminal from our point of view and certainly not acceptable.

"The team as a whole just didn't perform. There were a lot of poor performances but I am prepared to wait and see how we get on without any midweek games. Our worst two performances have been on the back of midweek cup games.

"They will get the benefit of the doubt for the moment, but certainly it needs to improve drastically."

They were words the large travelling support couldn't possibly have believed would be uttered by the coach after watching the first few minutes.

Colin Cramb's expertly-executed lob over Annan keeper Craig Summersgill in just 53 seconds put the visitors a goal to the good. And chances flowed, although they were not taken.

It seemed easy. Perhaps it seemed just too easy for some because when Annan found something like a rhythm they seemed to get through Shire far too often.

Hillcoat made three decent saves before his blunder to keep his side in things and Michael Bolochoweckyj's goalline clearance from Derek Townsley's lob allowed Shire to go in at the interval with their lead intact.

But there was no stopping the league new boys once Jack has found the net. They sensed a victory and put the Shire goal under siege.

Only some unbelievable misses kept the scores level, while the visitors simply could not find any form at all.

ANNAN ATHLETIC 2
Jack 49 (pen), Sloan 89

EAST STIRLINGSHIRE 1
Cramb 1
(HT 1-0)
Attendance: 968

East Stirlingshire: Hillcoat 5, Hay 5 (Donaldson 62, 2), Ure 5, Bolochoweckyj 7, Tully 7, Forrest 7, Dunn 5 (Anderson 62, 2), Gibson 5, Cramb 5, Nicholls 5 (McKenzie 76, 2), Graham 6
Not used: Mitchell, Kelly
Booked: Gibson 79

Referee: George Salmond