Coughlin hails travelling ‘Gers support

John Coughlin heaped praise on the travelling ‘Gers support at East Stirlingshire on Saturday and admitted his disappointment that his side couldn’t come away from Ochilview with all three points.

The ‘Gers had much the better of the game in the 0-0 draw – the team’s sixth clean sheet in seven matches – with Coughlin pleased to such a number of fans out in force.

“It’s brilliant for us and that’s exactly what you want,” said Coughlin. “Especially at that ground because it’s notorious for not attracting a lot of people there and it felt like home game for a lot of time that we were there so we were more than happy with that.

“I was disappointed that we didn’t go out and win for them and it was very much a missed opportunity but I hope that they can give us another chance and continue to come out in their numbers over the remaining games.”

A player who is highly unlikely not to feature in the remaining four league games is on-loan forward Sandy Cunningham, who suffered a dislocated shoulder in a challenge Coughlin was far from happy with and resulted in the ‘Gers finishing the match with ten men.

“It was a terrible tackle,” fumed Coughlin. “The boy shoulder charged him and if that happened on the street, there’d be a case for an assault charge. I was standing right in front of it and it was really, really bad, and on any other day, it would’ve been a red card.

“Sandy went to hospital and got his shoulder put back into place so that’s obviously going to take some time to heal and I’d be very surprised if we see him in a ‘Gers shirt again over the next four games.”

By Martin Inglis