SHIRE 3 DUMBARTON 1

Shire’s play-off challenge was maintained with an important and hard-fought victory over Dumbarton at Ochilview.

It was the strike force that grabbed the three goals which pushed the team another three points closer to second-placed Stenhousemuir but the real hero was Mark Peat.

The keeper made a string of vital saves at points in the game when the Sons held the upper hand and which, if he hadn’t made them, would have led to a totally different outcome.

Shire stuck to the same starting eleven that had triumphed at Montrose seven days earlier which meant there was only a place on the substitutes bench for Eddie Forrest while Dean Richardson was left out to regain his fitness.

Gary Kelly’s ankle injury, sustained in the midweek closed-door friendly win over Dunipace, meant he was the only player listed at Links Park not to make the squad.

Jim McInally stuck to the same formation as well as the identical personnel; that meant 4-4-2 again with Colin Cramb and Jamie Stevenson as the double strike force, leaving Brian Graham and Andy Rodgers wide in midfield.

A flurry of early corners for Dumbarton were well-defended by Shire and a long ball knocked forward to Cramb gave the Shire forward the chance to lob Mark McGeown from 35 yards and he only narrowly missed the target.

But Shire took the lead after five minutes when Ross Clark was judged to have handled the ball just outside his own penalty box. Cramb acted as the decoy man, running over the ballat the free-kick, leaving Stevenson to curl a shot round the defensive wall low to McGeown’s right and into the net.

After 14 minutes Peat was called into his first serious action after Shire could only half clear a Carcary corner kick to Clark who hit a powerful shot which the Peat tipped over the bar at full stretch.

On 20 minutes Shire managed to hit the bar twice in the space of just a few seconds. First Weaver tried a 30 yard free-kick which beat McGeown but hit the top of the crossbar. Then the ball was shuttled wide to Rodgers but his cross from the right was headed onto the angle of post and bar by Cramb.

On the half hour a penalty box clash of heads between Michael Bolochoweckyj and Ben Gordon led to the Dumbarton man leaving the pitch on a stretcher and replaced by Mark Canning. But from then on Dumbarton held the upper hand.

After 34 minutes Pat Boyle’s perfect cross from the left found Carcary in the middle ten yards out. The former Queen’s Park man hit a perfect half volley but he was denied by a superb point-blank save from Peat. The Shire keeper was called on to perform heroics just four minutes later, this time tipping a Clark header just over the bar.

But from the resulting corner kick Shire failed to clear their lines properly and McLaughlan picked up the pieces to hit a low centre across the six yard line and Clark was on hand to stick out a leg and divert it into the net for the equaliser.

Shire carved out the first opening of the second period when Stevenson knocked down Tully’s long clearance into the path of Graham whose first time volley looped just over the bar.

But a minute later it was Peat to the rescue as Carcary nipped in behind a square looking Shire defence and bore down on Peat but the keeper was quick off his line to block the shot.

The game then went through a towsy phase but that came to an end in explosive style on 66 minutes when Dumbarton substitute Iain Chisholm was judged to have fouled Brian Graham at the back edge of the box by referee Colin Brown, who seemed to take an age to point to the penalty spot.

But when he did there was a fair commotion during which Mark Canning was booked for taking his protest too far. After a two minute delay Cramb sent McGeown the wrong way with the spot kick.

The goal gave Shire the advantage and the introduction of Marc McKenzie for Cramb added some forward momentum. Squib could have taken the heat off late in the game when Dumbarton were pressing but instead passed to Rodgers who couldn’t control the ball when all he had to do was beat McGeown.

But it was another substitute, David Dunn, who provided the perfect finishing touch. His right-wing cross after 87 minutes was perfectly-judged for the in-rushing Rodgers to side-foot the ball past McGeown from 10 yards.

SHIRE : Peat, Hay(Forrest 64), Ure, Tully, Bolochoweckyj, Weaver, Donaldson, Stevenson(Dunn 78), Cramb(McKenzie 74), Graham, Rodgers.

DUMBARTON : McGeown, Geggan, Boyle, Lennon, Gordon(Canning 32), Dunlop, Carcary, Clark(Chisholm 46), McLaughlan, Forbes, Murray(Keegan 74).

REFEREE : C. Brown

ATENDANCE : 526.