McInally has left his men in no doubt they will be playing for their places in the two matches down south, starting tonight (Thursday) against Boston United and continuing on Saturday at Retford United.

"I have got to start thinking about my starting 11 for the Ayr game now," he said. "And these two matches will help me do just that.

"Both games will be good tests for us and everyone will get a chance to stake a claim to a place in that Challenge Cup game."

The process of trying to convince the coach started on Tuesday night when Shire went down to a 3-1 defeat against a very strong St Johnstone team at Firs Park.

Despite the scoreline, though, McInally thought there were some impressive performances from his side.

"You have to take into account the standard of the opposition," he said.

"So, although it was very difficult for us, I would say there were some who did enough to force themselves into my thinking for the Ayr game.

"We played some good football at times and were well-organised. But the goals we lost, from set pieces and a penalty, were poor.

"However, we have time to work on that before the real games begin."

The Shire coach believes the two matches down south will be a decent test for his players.

Boston United play in the Conference North and not that long ago were members of the English Football League.

"I think the Boston game will be the toughest of the two," said McInally. "But Retford won their league last season and were only
denied promotion because their ground wasn't up to scratch.

"So I reckon both will be decent work-outs for us. I always think that playing against English teams of any standard means a difficult game.

"It's also a chance to get away for a few days. We will be treated very well down there and it will be a chance to enjoy ourselves, although we know we are also there to work and there will be plenty of that."

Paul Hay has an ankle injury and Jimmy Gibson is recovering from a bout of flu, and they may be the only ones to miss out on any playing time.

Everyone else will feature in at least one of the two matches.

Stephen Oates and David King will be unavailable for tonight's match due to work commitments, but will travel independently to take part at Retford.

Young midfielder Sean Anderson will return home after the Boston match to attend a weekend wedding.

- THE demise of the Stirlingshire Cup has given McInally an extra worry. Shire were due to play Stenhousemuir in the competition on Tuesday night but, with the competition scrapped, the future of the tie is uncertain.

Shire officials are likely to ask their Warriors counterparts to retain it and play it as a friendly match but, as Heraldsport went to press, nothing had yet been confirmed.