Gary Naysmith reveals key to Stenhousemuir's 5-1 win over Annan Athletic

Nat Wedderburn wheels away to celebrate with team-mate Alston – who scored a hat-trick in just seven minutes (Photo: Alan Murray)

Gary Naysmith revealed that a second-half switch to push veteran midfielder Blair Alston further forward was the difference for his Stenhousemuir side last Saturday as they chalked up a 5-1 win over Annan Athletic.

The Warriors, who have now won all three of their home League One outings, were one goal ahead after strikes by Kinlay Bilham and Mikey Anderson edged a tight first half – but they surged to the three points after the break thanks to a stunning seven minute hat-trick from ex-Partick Thistle and Falkirk ace Alston.

"We played him a little further forward in the second half and benefitted from that,” Naysmith told the Falkirk Herald. “Blair is still finding his way. He managed 70-odd minutes again. We don’t want to give him too much too quickly. Breaking him down because we overplay him would be silly. We’re working towards getting him back to full fitness.”

Despite scoring five goals against Wullie Gibson’s side, former Scotland full-back Naysmith admitted that the match was another tight encounter, pointing to Darren Jamieson’s penalty save for Annan’s second first half spot-kick as the crucial moment.

He said: “I was a lot closer than the scoreline shows. Annan started the game well and Darren (Jamieson) has made a big save. We’ve then went 2-0 up, starting to look comfortable only to concede two penalties within the space of five minutes. The first one, which was scored, was one of them – I don’t know what Ross Meechan can do for it not to hit his hand. The second one was a clear cut one and Gregor (Buchanan) has just clattered into their player. Darren has made a brilliant save to deny them an equaliser and there was nothing in it at the break.

“The third goal allowed us to really express ourselves and we dominated for a period in the second half and that got us over the line, but I do think Wullie (Gibson) will have went down the road thinking ‘how did we lose 5-1?’ without playing down the significance for us. There wasn’t four goals in the game.”

Stenhousemuir now host local rivals Falkirk this Saturday in the SPFL Trust Trophy third round.

"It is the hardest draw we could have got,” Naysmith said. “But it is a one-off game and we’ll have a go. It will be a great atmosphere.”