Pat Scullion: The focus is already on next season for East Stirlingshire

The Shire’s season ended on Saturday after they were beaten 1-0 at home by Cumbernauld Colts in the quarter-finals of the Lowland League Cup, thanks to a last-gasp goal from Harley Ewen.

Scullion, who joined the club last month, said of the result: “It was disappointing to lose the game because we were the team with the most chances in the first half and we missed a penalty too.

"You come in at 0-0 thinking you should have been well in front. We’ve had a few games already that have saw us miss big chances, it isn’t a good habit to get into.

“Then in the second half, there was nothing in it at all. They go on to get a winner 89 minutes into the match, so of course it was disappointing in that sense.

“We were a minute away from penalties and you probably just accept that. It would have been 50/50 for both teams to get into the semi-final.

“It was really frustrating but that is the season over now and it is all about preparing for the new campaign.”

On the upcoming summer window, Scullion believes he has managed to get a head start on shaping his squad after placing the focus on that rather than the final few fixtures of this term.

Shaun Brown and Jack Hodge have signed new deals for next season, while Connor Greene has left the club to take a break from football.

“I’ve spoken to a few of the other boys about staying on next season,” Scullion said. “We’ve also had a tough conversation with a few who are leaving us. The work is well underway in that regard.

“I also have some players coming in with a view to signing from other clubs and that should have sorted out pretty quickly. The hard work over the past month or so has mainly focused on next season.

“The truth is I came into the job knowing we couldn’t go up for down and we didn’t have much to play for so it made sense to focus on being as prepared as we can for the summer.

“I want to put my own stamp on things as any manager would.”