East Stirling edge closer to play-offs

EAST STIRLING 2

ALBION ROVERS 0

EAST Stirlingshire steadied their nerves and took a substantial step towards securing a play-off position with a 2-0 Third Division win over Albion Rovers at Ochilview last night.

First-half goals from Michael Bolochoweckyj and Dean Richardson provided the foundation for a hard-fought victory which provided relief for second-top Shire, who had lost five of their previous six games.

Shire took the lead after 20 minutes somewhat against the run of play.

However, there was no doubting the quality of Jamie Stevenson’s free kick from wide on the right which curled in perfectly for Michael Bolochoweckyj to head past Jamie Ewings from six yards.

Rovers were unlucky not to equalise after 34 minutes when Paul McLeod’s shot from the edge of the penalty box rattled the Shire crossbar.

Two minutes later they had cause to rue their bad luck when Shire striker Simon Lynch played a clever reverse pass in behind the Rovers defence for Dean Richardson to run on to and score with a great low shot.

Rovers started the second period in a hurry and Chris Boyle thought he had pulled a goal back on 47 minutes but his effort was ruled out by the referee for offside.

The closest either team came to scoring after that was a Richardson header from a Lynch cross which flew wide of the Albion Rovers goal after 71 minutes.