Stenhousemuir five points clear at top of League 2 after another win and clean sheet

That victory at The Rock, courtesy of a late James Berry deflected strike, was the Warriors fifth straight league success, and a fourth outing in a row where they managed to kept a clean sheet.

Former Scotland defender Naysmith admitted that it was a big result for the Ochilview side as they chase a first-ever league title triumph.

“It was chance for Dumbarton to cut the lead but instead we have now gone further ahead at the top,” he said. “We have to be delighted with it. It is a big win for us. After a bit of a nothing opening ten minutes, they had the better of the game for a period of time but we grew into it and we started coming into the game going into half time. I told the players at the break that if we wanted to win the game then we would need to step up the performance level.

“It wasn’t so much good football in that sense. What we had to do better was the ugly side of it better; win the first balls, win the seconds, not let Ryan Wallace pin us, not let Sean Crighton go through Matty Yates. There wasn’t much in it in terms of possession but in terms of chances – we had the better of them by far and we created clear-cut chances and forced two outstanding saves."

Naysmith reckons winning a match the ‘ugly’ way is also a good sign as he looks to ensure his team do the basics of the game first and foremost – which they have done so far this season, keeping a league record eight clean sheets from their 15 outings so far.

He added: “You do think ‘it might not be our day’ but we managed to get a wee bit of luck with the goal as the deflection takes it away from the goalkeeper who looked like he would have saved it otherwise. It was one of them, winning ugly makes it sound like you are booting the ball anywhere, but I think it was more to do with the fact that we did the necessary parts of the game well.

“That comes before the technical ability and the players responded to my half-time chat and I am delighted as are the lads. We need to enjoy the victories but also keep the guys grounded too.”

​And on goalscorer, Berry, who joined the club in the summer after a standout season at Scottish Lowland Football League side University of Stirling last term, he said: “He has been unfortunate. He has found himself out of the team for a number of reasons.“The team are winning and Nat (Wedderburn) and Michael (Anderson) have been very consistent so there hasn’t been a need to change that. James is a clever boy and he understands that the guys in front of him are playing well – it happened to me in my own career and you are itching to get on but you have be able to see that and he does.

“His training statistics are always top of in the top three and when he plays his distances are always at the top. He got his reward today for great professionalism.”

The Warriors now host East Fife this Saturday (3pm kick-off) at Ochilview as they look to extend their lead at the top against the mid-table Fifers.