Gala Fairydean Rovers hoping to get back to winning ways against East Stirlingshire after losses to Rangers B and Tranent Juniors

They host East Stirlingshire in the Scottish Lowland Football League on Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm, and will be looking to do the double against them, having got the better of them by 1-0 in the reverse fixture in Falkirk in November, thanks to an 18th-minute Ciaren Chalmers goal.

That match follows back-to-back defeats away to Rangers B by 4-1 in Dumbarton on Saturday and at home to Tranent Juniors at Netherdale in Galashiels by 2-0 on Tuesday.

On target for Rangers’ colts were Zak Lovelace on 11 minutes, Bailey Rice from the penalty spot on 17, Robbie Ure on 19 and Charlie Lindsay on 68, with Danny Galbraith netting a consolation effort for their visitors on 73.

Both title-chasing Tranent’s efforts were own goals, however, a shot on the hour mark being deflected into the net by captain Gareth Rodger and home goalkeeper Ruairidh Hall fumbling in a long-range ball not far ahead of the final whistle.

Midfielder Galbraith is hoping better better fortune awaits his team this weekend, though, telling us: “You always look forward to the next game, particularly when you’ve had a bad result because it gives you a chance to get back on track.

“We’ve had what were two really difficult games on paper, and on paper this one should be easier, but it never ever works like that, so we’re going to have to put on a similarly good performance to get anything on Saturday and it’s important that we do.

“They’ve got a bit of rebuilding job going on and they’ll see this as an opportunity to pick up points, and if we’re not at it, they will, so we need to make sure we match them and go into the game with the same focus and intensity that we did against Rangers and Tranent.”

Looking back over Gala’s last two games, the 32-year-old added: “The scoreline probably flattered Rangers a little bit.

“I thought we played reasonably well, but we made a poor decision in trying to go against the elements in the first half, there having been a gale-force blowing towards our goal.

“We maybe should have saved that for the second half rather than trying to take them on in the first.

“To be honest, they were more ruthless than us and had a ten-minute spell they got three goals in, and that made it a really difficult task to get back into it, particularly when the conditions weren’t great.

“It was a tough game against Tranent too, kind of what we expected, to be honest. There was nothing really between the teams but probably they showed why they’re fighting for the league title because, with nothing in it, they managed to get the first goal, which was always going to be key.

“It was a wee bit fortuitous, given that it was an own goal, but they had been putting us under pressure.

“When you look at the game as a whole, it could have went either way really, and I felt at half-time that whoever got the next goal would go on and win and that’s the way it proved to be.”

Rovers are currently tenth in the table, with 39 points from 28 games.