Stenhousemuir grab crucial three points in Gary Naysmith's first match in charge

In what was the ex-Edinburgh and Queen of the South manager’s first match in charge of the Ochiview club, a Matty Yates double sealed a crucial three points, despite the away side controlling the second half.

He told Warriors TV afterwards: ‘It is a range of emotions really. I was really happy with the first-half performance. Stranraer caught us out because they changed their shape from what they had been playing the past three of four games, but we found our feet after five or six minutes. That was great considering we have only worked with the players for three hours.

‘We lost an unfortunate goal due to Conor Brennan getting a serious injury, which we don’t know the extent of yet, but the boys bounced back from that and got themselves in front before half time.

‘Then Stranraer, without having too many clear-cut chances, were on top in the second half pushing us back and that is something that we need to look back at and rectify. We want to be a team that plays for 90 minutes and not just 45 minutes. But overall, there wasn’t much more I could have asked of the players. You have to be happy when you win your first game in charge.’

On ex-Stranraer man Yates, who is the club’s top goalscorer on 11 goals for the campaign, he added: ‘Matty 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.’

Stenhousemuir moved into sixth spot on 23 points after the win in what is a congested table – with tenth up to third only separated by eight points.