Sandy Clark: Shire boss hails 'leaders' Connor Greene and Andy Kay after big win

The win was only a third of the campaign for the Falkirk side, who currently sit in 17th spot on just 17 points, a whopping 22 points away from the top six places in the fifth tier.

However, Sandy Clark, who earned his victory as boss, says his side have been improving each week despite the results so far in his tenure.

"The players are doing everything I am asking of them,” Clark said. “In every single match so far, we have made real progress from the previous match, and that is a really good sign.

"It felt like this win was coming and we were really unlucky against Civil Service Strollers recently so the guys had a wee bit of extra fire in them to get a win over the line.

"Everyone was organised on the night and the reward for their hard work was three points. It is only one win and we need to kick on from this now. We need to be hard to beat every match.”

A Connor Greene penalty and a late Scott Honeyman strike on the night sealed the points in the second half, while experienced campaigner Gary Fraser was sent off for Si Ferry’s side.

Greene, 26, also made his 250th appearance for the Shire on Friday night and Clark praised the defender for his contribution.

He added: “Connor has been a great foundation to build on. When you come into a new team it takes a while to get to know players strengths and weaknesses and it really helps to have strong characters in a dressing room in the first couple of weeks.

"He really is that type of player and he takes responsibility on the pitch. Connor is a leader. Guys like him and Andy Kay give you that licence to get the younger guys further forward without having to worry so much about what is going on behind them.”

The Shire now face local rivals Bo’ness United at home on Saturday afternoon and Clark is looking forward to experiencing the occasion.

"I don’t know much about them,” he admitted. “I only found out that Max Christie is the manager there and he is someone I know really well from my time at Hearts. I’m focused on how we will play and less so them.”