Assistant Manager 'Bomber' Brown Ferguson speaks to our Club Reporter for this edition of The Booth Report.

With the club having an enforced break for the international, it was a time for assistant manager Brown Feguson to assess the injury situation at Stenhousemuir and look ahead to the next part of the season with a couple of new faces in the squad, with Gary Oliver (Hearts) and Tom Walsh (Rangers) on loan until January. 

Luckily there have not been too many injuries, although first choice keeper Chris Smith, who suffered a bad knock in a cycling accident, is still waiting to get back to proper training. Ferguson said: “He is getting better but is still a good few weeks away from training but he is doing more day in day out, so is starting to come back into being about the club in a training capacity but actual on the field training is still a few weeks away.” 

Ferguson was happy to report only a couple more minor injuries and is hopeful they will be quickly resolved, he added: “Jamie Reid had a hamstring injury but with the break we have now we hope he will be back before the next game. 

“Greacan came off with a bit of a hamstring but because of the break it is a good time, the good thing is that, so far this season, we have not had many injuries at all, so the work that is going on is doing what it is meant to, to try to prevent a build up of injuries.” 

While the enforced break is good for some things it does upset any momentum, although, overall, Ferguson thinks it is useful, saying: “It does [upset any momentum] and for that reason it is disappointing as you want to keep playing but I think it is a good thing for us with respect to what the players have done, it has been well documented the additional night training and the players have been brilliant with that. 

“So the weekend was a really good chance for them to recover, spend time with the family, it is good to give them a weekend off. Then, hopefully, they will come back re-energised and ready to go. For that reason, the break comes at a reasonable time but obviously we are keen to get back playing again.” 

When Stenny kick off again it could well be with two new faces in the team and Ferguson is excited by both, saying: “We have had very good reports about both of them, the manager knows them very well from his time with Scotland and we saw for ourselves when we played Hearts what type of player Oliver is. His goal-scoring record is excellent, his movement is good the way he plays the game, he has the sharpness and pace to threaten. 

“Walsh is a player I have not come across myself but the manager has always spoke very very highly of him and I think he will add a lot to the team.” 

While Stenny have had a mixed start, no team, apart from Ayr who drew at Ochilview last week, have stamped any authority on the division and Ferguson expects another tight league, saying:

“Every year in this division there is very little between the teams and most teams will share the same ambitions and there will not be massive differences between them. Obviously we expect Dunfermline to be strong come the end of the season but it has been shown so far that there is little between them and the other teams. 

“There are no easy games, they are all tough. It is still early days but we are looking forward to it but we now have to focus on the next game, which will be a tough one against Dunfermline.”