Gary Naysmith on the key to Stenhousemuir's return to winning ways and Corey O'Donnell cracker

Stenhousemuir boss Gary Naysmith (Photo: Michael Gillen)

Gary Naysmith was delighted to see normal service resume for his Stenhousemuir side last Saturday as they got back to winning ways in style.

The Warriors sealed a 3-0 away win at Montrose to climb back to the top of the William Hill League One table on the back of two defeats to Cove Rangers and Dunfermline Athletic.

A Blair Alston penalty and second-half goals from Ross Taylor and Corey O’Donnell sealed a comfortable three points at Links Park.

“We were certainly conscious of the previous two matches against Cove Rangers and Dunfermline,” Naysmith told the Falkirk Herald.

“We were nowhere near where we want to be for spells in both of those games. We had a couple of really good meetings to sort out things.

“And the players got back to normal on Saturday and I was delighted for them. It was a good response from losing 4-0 the previous week to winning 3-0 away from home.

“In the last couple of games, we've lost heavily and that isn’t something people are used to seeing happen at Stenhousemuir. So I think that magnified things a little.

“When you look at, we’ve won two, drawn two and lost one in our last five league games. That doesn’t look bad at all – I think it was just so unusual for us to lose heavily two weeks in a row.”

On the Montrose win, former Scotland full-back Naysmith added: “There wasn’t failure across the team really.

"We put Kinlay (Bilham) at left back and Kelsey (Ewen) came in for his first start in a while at the other side. We made a clear effort to get more energy on the pitch from the off and I think you could see that throughout our performance.”

O’Donnell capped off the win with a stunning effort – turning his defender before lashing home from 30-yards.

And Naysmith hailed the 21-year-old striker, who joined in the summer from Broomhill, for his overall display.

He said: “His goal capped off a very good performance from him individually. He was brought to the club because he is a good player but he was signed as more of a longer-term project.

"But due to the injury to Matty (Aitken) he has started more games than anyone probably expected, and he has had some ups and downs, but in the main he has been excellent. You forgot that he is a young lad just coming up from the Lowland League.”