Perthshire head coach Alan Clark was “chuffed to bits” after his side recorded a well-earned victory on the road.
The 37-15 triumph was the ideal way to kick-start 2023 and provide a platform to push up the National League 3 standings.
Clark told the PA: “It was a good win, not just a scrape through. We were pretty dominant so I’m chuffed to bits.
“We started very well and it set the tone for the boys. I could see they were right up for it and raring to go.
“And we got the bonus point before half-time, which was excellent.”
James Armstrong was on the scoresheet in the opening half and his secret weapon, as revealed by Clark, was a bag of crisps!
“He scored, but then sat down on the half-way line because his calves were cramping,” Clark laughed.
“He said he needed some salt and vinegar crisps. Jack McIntosh, who was down with us, was actually eating a packet of crisps so came on and started feeding them to James.”
Clark added: “But he still came off with cramp in the second half! It saved his first half.”
Pleasing for Clark was that his players were rewarded for battling right through to the final whistle.
He said: “We scored right in the final play too when Greenock were throwing the kitchen sink at us.
“The weather was absolutely horrendous on Saturday and we managed to capitalise on a mistake.
“But we had put the pressure on to finish the game on a high. I was absolutely delighted with the whole thing.
“We had plenty time in December to chat about and think about how we were going to approach the second half of the season. It was nice to then put in that sort of performance on Saturday.
“They can take it forward and know they can perform at this level. Sometimes that is half the battle. We’re good enough to compete in this league and, as I said last week, it is about momentum.”
Keen to build on their weekend win, Shire now welcome Allan’s Glen to the North Inch on Saturday.
“They shocked us to start with down there and ran away with the game a little bit,” Clark said.
“But we know we can be competitive and that there is nothing to fear, even though they are running quite high in the league. We’re at home and want to make it a difficult place to visit.”
