STENHOUSEMUIR went into their "away" match on their own ground against tenants East Stirlingshire on the back of only one league win in five games, but they threw down the gauntlet to the teams that want to displace them at the top with a fine 3-0 win in the only game to go ahead in the Third Division.
Two quickfire goals after 36 and 37 minutes turned the game the way of John Coughlin's men. Scott Dalziel took advantage of a mistake in the home defence to drill past Barry John Corr, with Kevin Motion hooking in an acrobatic effort secon
ds later.
East Stirling were stung into action and Warriors goalkeeper Scott Bennett stood firm to deny Craig Tully and Andy Rodgers.
Dalziel added a third when he converted a Willie Lyle pass midway through the second half to see Coughlin's men move five points clear at the summit, although second-placed Cowdenbeath have three games in hand.
Coughlin said: "It was not the most attractive game of football but it was really important that we got the win and extended our lead at the top of the table. The game plan we went out with was to be hard to break down and difficult to beat and it worked."
East Stirling, who have lost their past two league games after an impressive 11-game unbeaten run, remain in the play-off pack. Their bemused manager Jim McInally said: "Our goalkeeper has not had a save to make yet somehow we were beaten by three goals. If we keep working as hard as we did today we will get back to winning ways in the league soon enough."
