BACK WITH A WIN

Jim McInally admitted he was worried his team's first match in six weeks could turn into an embarrassing banana skin, but praised his ring-rusty players after a narrow, but deserved, 1-0 victory at Montrose.

The Shire coach was willing to admit he feared the worst bringing his players out of cold storage against a team who had played two tough competitive matches in the previous seven days.

In the end the concerns were unfounded but Jim says they were real.

"I watched them play in the friendly match last Sunday and knew the players were short of match practice," he said afterwards. "And I knew right away that we would be in for a tough gameagainst Montrose, who are not as bad as the league table makes out.

"I  wondered how the players would react to being away from action for so long and just hoped that there would not be any adverse reaction. The last thing you wanted was to go to Montrose, knowing they had not won a league game all season, and end up being the fall guys."

He was delighted, and maybe a touch relieved also, to lead the team to a 1-0 victory thanks to Michael Bolochoweckyj's 20th minute strike.

"I thought we defended superbly," said Jim. "My only criticism would be that we didn't always choose the right option in attack and maybe should have put them under more pressure."

He was also full of praise for Ryan Harding, making his first Shire start, and Paul Hay and Stephen McGuire who were drafted into the team in the absence of Craig Tully, Paul Weaver and Simon Lynch.

"It shows we have 16 or 17 players all of whom are capable of playing in the team without us having to worry about weakening the side when we have to make changes. It was stange, though, that we were unable to name the same team after winning four matches in a row."

Livingston's draw at Stranraer means Shire are now level on points with the league leaders and Shire scorer Michael Bolochoweckyj says there is now a real determination to push for a real tilt at the title.

"Obviously, we still think it is a bit unfair having a full-time team in the league this season when none of us thought they should be there. But we are using that as motivation and we are determined to see how far we can take things," he said.