By Gary McKenzie
May 8 2004

After his heroics at Cowdenbeath last week, Michael Hankinson kept his place in goal as the Mo faced bottom club East Stirlingshire in the last home game of the season.

The home support expected to see a few goals, but the Shire started the game stronger, pinning the Mo back and winning a few corners without making the most of their early pressure. Montrose fought back, with Martin Wood playing well, holding the ball up and beating defenders, However, the game wasn't very entertaining, with the ball held up in midfield for long spells.

Montrose were better in the second half and St6evie Kerrigan hit the bar with a trademark bullet header. It looked as if the match was gheading for a nil nil finish. Neil Stephen came on for Elliot Smith and Fergie, who had a great match, moved to left back to make way for the tall youngster.

Henderson came on for Graeme Sharp and Webster moved over to the left wing. After a couple of poor touches by Webster, we wondered if Henry Hall's usually good tactical sense had departed him for this match. However, Hall proved his good reading of the game towards the end. He had been calling for Craig Smart to stay outside the box at corners and other set-pieces, to enable him to run on to any loose balls. He did so with only seconds remaining and fired a thunderbolt through a mass of players to end Shire's hopes of ending their dismal win-less run.

If promotion is to be a serious target next season, the performances are going to have to be better than this. Peterhead is the venue for the last game of the season next week.

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Teams

Montrose

Hankinson, Donachie, Ferguson, Elliot Smith, McQuillan, Kerrigan, Webster, Smart, Michie, Wood, Sharp

Subs: Henderson, Stephen, Spink, Hall, Butter

East Stirlingshire

Gilpin, Livingstone, McLaren, Newall, Mcghee, Leishman, McAuley, Ure, Kelly, Mulholland

Subs: Baldwin, Polwart, Rodden,

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Other match report

http://http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_1/3691519.stm