The North Inch “erupted” when Perthshire dotted down late in the day to secure a hard-earned 22-22 draw against Strathmore.
And, with National League safety now confirmed, delighted skipper Mat Rae is eyeing a bright and prosperous future for the club.
Shire only needed a point against Strathmore on Saturday but battled to the last whistle to claim three, hoisting them even further up the table.
“The guys have put in amazing performances over the last couple of weeks at training and on Saturdays,” Rae said.
“The numbers we have been getting at training has really helped everyone up their game and allow us to put out a solid squad.”
Strathmore had opened the scoring and tempers soon frayed between the backrowers, with Matt Jenns and his opposite number sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes.
From the ensuing penalty, Shire kicked to the corner and won the lineout cleanly off the top.
Sent out to the right, Lewis Murrie at scrumhalf switched it back left where Kieran Ramsay scored in the corner. Jonny Armitt missed the difficult conversion but the home lead was 5-3.
Not long after, Dan Rae took an excellent steal and immediately Shire were on the front foot. The forwards did the heavy lifting, bulldozing up to the line for Ramsay to get his second of the day.
Strathmore hit back following a looping pass which opened up the defence and the scoreboard was quickly level.
Yet Ramsay was proving a menace and secured his hat-trick as the break approached, this time peeling off the maul.
The second half started at 100mph and indiscipline was hurting Shire - preventing any attacking rhythm.
Hauled down just short of the line, Strathmore reorganised quickly and, after a few short picks, took their try in the corner. The conversion was missed so the match was level at 15-15.
But then the visitors seized the lead with a score under the posts.
The battle was far from finished and Murrie sent the ball to the backs to no avail as an intentional knock on saw Strathmore reduced to 14 for the remainder of the match.
And eventually, in the final play and right on the line, Will Campbell burst through the middle of the ruck to cover the necessary centimetres and cross the whitewash.
That was the bonus point try secured and it was up to Armitt to see if he could add the extras to draw the match. If he was nervous, he didn’t show it as he slotted it perfectly before the referee blew for full-time.
“We got the points we needed,” added captain Rae.
“It wasn’t the best rugby we have played or the best start to the second half for us and a few heads went down.
“Thankfully we were able to pick our heads up and keep putting the pressure on Strathmore.
“We had a couple of tries disallowed during the game which wasn’t ideal but the lads dug deep and didn’t give up.
“And when Willie crossed the line on the final play, the North Inch erupted.
“Jonny slotted the two points as well to get the draw, which was brilliant.”
Shire, now seventh in the table, host Berwick at the North Inch on Saturday (3pm) for their final match of the season.
Rae said: “The lads are all excited to try and finish the season on a win and we will be training hard this week to try and make that happen.”
Longer-term, Rae is confident Shire can be challenging further up the standings.
He told the PA: “We’ve already been having chats about pre-season and the off season and what we need to do as a squad and individually.
“We started building in little things to the team near the end of this season and we will continue to work on these for the next few seasons.
“I absolutely believe we have the capability to challenge for a place up the top end of the table. It will take hard work from everyone but I think it is doable.”
