Five-goal thrashing not enough for East Stirlingshire boss

East Stirlingshire fired five goals past Lochar Thistle last week but boss Derek Ure urged his side to be even more ruthless ahead of their Scottish Cup clash with Broxburn Athletic.
East Stirlingshire boss Derek Ure (picture: Alan Murray)East Stirlingshire boss Derek Ure (picture: Alan Murray)
East Stirlingshire boss Derek Ure (picture: Alan Murray)

The Shire eased through to the third round of the South Region Challenge Cup after a comprehensive victory, but Ure felt it could have been more emphatic had it not been for the heroics of the Thistle’s goalkeeper Darren Martin and their wastefulness in front of goal.

He told the Falkirk Herald: “We won 5-0 with a cleansheet, but we need to be more ruthless and not take our foot off the gas.

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“If we switch off and let teams back into it there will be times when we won’t be able to rectify it.

“Their goalkeeper played really well, made some excellent saves but we missed a lot of good chances.”

The Shire were four up at half-time though goals from Jamie Dishington, Bobby Barr, Matty Flynn and Marty Orr, but Sean Brown didn’t grab a fifth until the towards the end and Ure felt they coasted too easily victory.

He said: “When we applied ourselves in the first half you could see our quality and they had no answer.

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“We were always in control and played some great stuff but we just relaxed.”

This weekend there’s more cup action for the Lowland League side as they face Broxburn in the first round of the Scottish Cup.

It’s the first time the two sides have met since 1925. It was a 6-5 win for Broxburn that day and Ure knows they will be in for a tough match at Albyn Park against the East of Scotland outfit on Saturday.

He said: “Playing in the Scottish cup is something that every single player growing up wants to be involved in.

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“It would be good to go on a wee run but first we need to deal with the early stages.

“Our record is not as good as I would like it to be in this competition in recent years but I think with the players we have got we can challenge any team.

“Broxburn will be a step up in class from last week. They have got a good set up, are a well run club and good management team.

“When I was at Camelon we played against them, they’ve got a great astroturf pitch so we know roughly what we are going into. They will punish us if we make mistakes.

“We want to be still in the mix once the big boys enter the competition. As long as we are in the draw come Sunday I’ll be happy.”