Don't stop believing is key to Stenny journey to safety

The Warriors suffered a number of heavy defeats and at one point looked in danger of being cast adrift at the foot of the League 1 table.

But they have clawed their way off the bottom with performances such as Saturday’s win over Airdrie and go into Saturday’s match at Brechin in second bottom spot, three points clear of Stranraer.

Ferguson said: “The outcome was great in terms of the scoreline and the three points but the most pleasing thing was the general performance.

“I think if you probably go back to the Queen’s Park game at Hampden which was a good couple of months ago, from that point onwards I think we’ve been putting in assured performances.

“We’ve lost games in that period but I think anybody who was at these games would see that for good spells we were very competitive and played well against good opposition in our league.

“I think for a good couple of months we’ve been performing consistently to a good level. There’s no way that any team will go and win every game between now and the end of the season but if you’re performing and playing with the intensity and desire that they did on Saturday we’re going to give ourselves a much better chance to win more games more often.

“I’ve never criticised the whole group for losing belief in what we were trying to do and it’s been a great pat on the back to them that they’ve continued to do it over the last couple of months with a consistent way of playing and managed to pick up good points.

“We’re clearly still in a dogfight but what we should take is belief that if we do perform the way we’re performing on a regular basis we’ll pick up points.”

Stenhousemuir have brought in left-back Conor Duthie on loan from Dunfermline until the end of the season while Carlos Mazana-Martinez and loan signings Oliver Shaw and Ally Roy have extended their deals for the rest of the campaign.

Grant Hamilton and Liam McCroary have gone out on loan to junior side Kilsyth Rangers.