Caledonian Braves 0-3 East Stirlingshire: Shire keep pace at top with convincing win

Derek Ure insisted East Stirlingshire are a “match for anyone in the league” after his side bounced back from last week’s Scottish Cup exit with a dominant 3-0 win against Caledonian Braves on Saturday.
East Stirlingshire boss Derek Ure (picture: Alan Murray)East Stirlingshire boss Derek Ure (picture: Alan Murray)
East Stirlingshire boss Derek Ure (picture: Alan Murray)

Second-half strikes from Reiss Peggie, Bobby Barr and Nicky Low ensured Shire kept touch with league leaders Bonnyrigg Rose and Kelty Hearts.

Derek Ure was pleased with most of his side’s performance but admitted they had to work their way into the game.

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He said: “I thought we had a ropey first 10 minutes because we came out the blocks sloppy.

“I think for the next 80 minutes we were very good on the ball.

“In the first half in the last third I thought we let ourselves down a touch, but in the second half we asked for a wee bit more quality and I think we got that.

“We didn’t get to grips with the game and didn’t start correctly but it was only for 10 minutes. After that we equipped ourselves very well”.

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Further satisfaction for Ure came in the form of Eddie Malone’s return to the first team.

He said: “Eddie’s got himself back to full fitness after his injury and came in today and was excellent. He’s an experienced player so that’s a massive positive for us.

“That’s the joys of having a reserve team, is that we can get boys back to match fitness before playing them on a Saturday, because ultimately that’s where we want to be, winning games on Saturdays.”

After a first half stifled by indecision and a lack of quality in the final third, Shire sought to up the tempo at the start of the second. They were rewarded within five minutes.

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Peggie latched onto Jordan Tapping’s lay off on the edge of the box before calmly rolling a side footed effort into the back of the net.

The attacking onslaught continued, with Barr putting the stunned Braves backline to the sword.

The former Dumbarton man danced his way into the box before curling a left footed shot into the top corner of the net and out of Alex Marshall’s reach in the Braves’ goal.

Any notion of a comeback was quickly extinguished after 70 minutes when Slattery’s attempted clearance found the feet of Low, who made no mistake in securing a dominant victory for his side by smashing the ball into the back of the net.