Shire get back to winning ways

With the last two matches seeing Shire draw consecutively at the Falkirk Stadium, three points felt like the only option for Derek Ure’s team.

The home side dominated the match and went four goals up, with Kieran Offord, Dean Watson, Andy Rodden and Connor Greene all scoring before Gretna got two back late on.

Speaking to the Herald, Ure was pleased with the result, saying: “It was a good win for us and we didn’t play brilliantly, but considering the players we had missing, it was a result not to be sniffed at.

“We had some different goal-scorers in there too, which is always good.

“You don’t want to rely on the one person to lift the team, and to have four different people on the scoresheet was great. We’ve been creating chances but not taking them, so we put that right on Friday night.”

Shire put out an extremely young side, with their average age just over 20 and that was another pleasing aspect of the night for Ure.

“They scored two late on probably because we had so many young players out there,” he explained.

“That’s where we are. We have a really young squad in general. Our loan players are doing very well and making an impact.”

Goal-scorer Greene became the club’s highest league appearance holder on the night, having played 111 games for Shire in the division.