Stenhousemuir boss Gary Naysmith eyes a run of positive results after first victory

In what was the ex-Edinburgh and Queen of the South manager’s first match in charge of the Ochiview club on Saturday, a Matty Yates double sealed a crucial 2-1 League 2 win.

On the performance, he said: “We were better attacking-wise in the first half than we were in the second half. There is no doubt about that, but actually what we did well in the second half was defending in a really resolute manner.

“Watching the game back, I was so pleased with the way we defended our box and we won ever single header from corner kicks, crosses came into our box but in the main we dealt with them well and were first too them.

“I think going in front twice helped us and calmed us down a little too. We scored two good goals and Matty Yates is someone that I like. I have seen him play while at previous clubs and he is someone that I would have tried to sign.

“He is versatile and he can play as a striker, as a ten, today we played him out wide on the right. He still managed to score two goals from that position.

“When you look back at the game, outwith the goal, a shot that Conor Brennan comfortably saved and a soft header in the second half, Stranraer didn’t test our goal at all.

“They had a lot of the ball but we soaked up that aspect of the game and actually you can’t play well all the time, winning when you aren’t playing fluid football is a great trait to have, especially in League 2.”

After being impressed by his side’s defensive nouse, Naysmith is now eyeing a run of positive results.

He added: “You probably expect a lift when a new manager comes in. The goal for us now is to get results in the second and third game and so on. The guys need to put in that first half performance ever week.

“It is difficult to get consistency at part-time level but you have to strive for it. We want to go on a run and build some momentum in the league. If we could beat East Fife this weekend we would go above them in the table.

“But that won’t be easy. Going on a run is the hard thing, we’ve saw that with only Dumbarton and Stirling really finding any long-term consistency this year. East Fife went to Elgin and won which was a great result for them.

“Albion Rovers beat Bonnyrigg Rose 4-0 this weekend too. They beat my Edinburgh side three times out of four when we were in the play-offs in my last job. Anyone can beat anyone.”

The boss is also hoping to add to the team over the coming days after losing stopper Conor Brennan to injury during the match.

Conor will be out and Sean Crighton is still out too,” Naysmith said. “At the moment we are only running with 16 players and you can’t do that.

“The goal is to find players who can strengthen us across all positions of the pitch. I do think we are unbalanced in certain areas of the squad. We need to address that but there is no point in bringing in guys who aren’t better than what you have already.”