By Ben Kearney

Copyright falkirkherald

Stenhousemuir manager Gary Naysmith reckons taking a “bit of risk” this summer and transforming the Warriors’ squad with a fresh approach has paid off big time. The Ochilview side sit top of the Scottish League One table on 11 points from six outings after last Saturday’s 1-0 win away to Kelty Hearts. And that successful start to the season has came with ex-Scotland full-back Naysmith building a much younger squad, owing to reduced budgets across the board as Stenhousemuir look to stabilise following a period of financial uncertainty. Speaking to the Falkirk Herald after leading his team to the top of the table, he said: “It is nice for the players. We took a bit of a risk (this summer). We let Nat (Wedderburn) and Kyle (Jacobs) leave. That is two really experienced players. I usually have experienced players in the middle of the pitch in my teams. When Finlay Gray comes back, we’ll have five central midfielders and the oldest one will be 25. We had the likes of Blair (Alston), Matty (Yates) and Corey (O’Donnell) move on too. That was the chunk of our goals from last season. “But so far the lads that have came in have gelled with the rest of the squad and they’ve quickly built up a really strong atmosphere. Everyone wants to play and the competition is excellent. They are pushing each other so much. And the lads understand and trust me. Everyone expects to play but obviously they all can’t start. It is nice boost to see the club at the top of the table and we should enjoy it. We know that if our standards drop them we won’t be top of the league for very long.” In-form winger Euan O’Reilly was the matchwinner for the Warriors last weekend, scoring the game’s only goal from the penalty spot on the half hour mark after great work from his fellow wide-man Ross Taylor to win the foul. Despite the narrow scoreline, it was a comfortable win in Fife for the visitors – with Naysmith hailing his side’s first-half performance. “The first half especially was possibly the strongest we have played in my whole time at the football club,” he said. “We were so good in and out of possession. The only danger was that we had only scored the one goal, because that can always come back to haunt you, but our defensive performance was really strong. Kelty made a few tactical changes to go for it but we dealt with that and cleared our box when needed. Darren (Jamieson) made strong saves when they were needed. I’m not one for stats but we had 16 efforts at goal with 11 on target which is impressive for an away team. And it’s something we probably aren’t known for either.” On his wingers, he added: “Euan (O’Reilly) and Ross (Taylor) are big players for us. They’ve both started the season really well and have been scoring and assisting. Ross came off with a little bit of a injury so we will assess him but we have Zeke (Cameron) with us now ready to push both of them. I hadn’t actually designated a penalty taker for Saturday’s game, and I thought Ross would take it, but that shows you how confident Euan is at the moment. He is playing really well at the moment. Euan is unique. He is a forward-thinking player with real quality who can also do the defensive stuff.” The table-toppers now host Peterhead this Saturday at Ochilview as they look to stay at the summit. The Blue Toon are seventh and haven’t picked up a point on the road yet – but Naysmith says it won’t be an easy game. He previewed: “We know them well. We played them in the league cup here (1-0 win) and also came up against them a couple of seasons ago in League Two. They have a very strong home record, having picked up all their points there so far. But that means they will be chasing a result away from home. It’s just like any other game for us, we don’t change what we do.”