Stenhousemuir move into second place after East Fife victory

Stephen Swift’s side rescued a late point in a 3-3 draw with Elgin City at Ochilview on Saturday afternoon, following that result up with a 2-1 victory against East Fife on Tuesday night.

A double from Euan O’Reilly saw the Warriors come from behind in Fife to move two points clear of third-placed Stirling Albion.

"I am buzzing,” said boss Swift after the match. “We went one-nil down after dominating the whole of the first half and the boy scored an absolutely brilliant goal. In that sense it was a bit deflated in the dressing room because we were the better team by far. It was sore.

"I felt like we needed an injection of pace after playing two games in quick succession so Tam Orr and Euan O’Reilly came on and they both really galvanised us. Tam was superb up front and of course Euan got his two goals so I was delighted with that.

"On Saturday we were the same in that we should have won the match because we were the better team, so to actually get the victory tonight was important. If we didn’t I think it would have psychologically been tough on the players in terms of not getting what you think you deserve."

Swift reckons he also has a massive selection headache now going into the Bonnyrigg Rose match on Saturday, October 1.

The Warriors have a weekend off due to being already out of the SPFL Trust Trophy.

"This is what we want,” the boss explained. “We want competition for places and these guys will be thinking they are ready to be in the team from the start. I was really pleased with the recruitment this summer and we have had a few bad weeks but I really believe in what we are doing here.

"The boys have bounced back and we are in second place now. We are making strides to where we want to be and performance-wise we are getting better. That is us four games unbeaten now.

"What I want from our team is to never be out-worked and over the past few weeks we have really gone toe-to-toe with each opponent and having the quality we do in reserve is a dream for a manager."

Defender Daniel Higgins had to come off injured in the first half and Swift provided an update on the centre-back.

"He looked like he tweaked his hamstring,” Swift said. “It is a blow for us because he has been doing very well but we have a week off now.

"He will get straight into his rehab and hopefully he won’t be out too long.”

Swift added: “It is a little frustrating that the break has come now when we are on a good run. It has killed some momentum but we had to do the same recently due to the death of the Queen which saw our match off, so we just need to get on with it.

"Ideally we want to keep the momentum going but we will look at it in a positive light. Some of the guys have played a fair bit and could do with a rest in all honesty so that is handy.

"Going into the Bonnyrigg Rose it will be important to have a full squad – they are big, strong and physical.”