Montrose lined up 4-4-2 with McNeil in goal and a back four of Milligan, Campbell, Tweed and Crighton. Youngster Aaron Sinclair was rested having played in the majority of this season's matches.
Chris Hegarty returned from suspension to partner
Paul Watson in the middle of the park. Striker John Gemmell was strangely deployed on the left wing and Hugh Davidson was again out on the right. Sean Anderson and Steven Nicholas, playing as a trialist, were the two strikers. The bench consisted of Steven Coutts, Marek Tomana, Aaron Sinclair, Daryl Nicol and John Maitland.
Shire threatened to open their account after five minutes courtesy of a Stevenson pass which found it's way to Andy Rogers at thecorner of the six yard box. The ex-Montrose man produced an excellent point blank save from Andy McNeil who deflected the ball over the bar.
Montrose recovered from the early scare and started to pass their way back into the Shire's half. The first attempt on the Shire's goal was a looping header from Tweed from a Nicholas cross.
Montrose were frequently creating space on the right hand side of the pitch through Hegarty, Milligan, Davidson and Nicholas. Hugh Davidson was the first to move in on goal and the captain had his attempt cleared off the line by the Shire defence.
Montrose looked in control at this point but were struggling to convert possession into chances on goal. The wind assisted a Milligan cross and it looked to dip under Barclay's bar but the young keeper clutched the spinning ball.
In 30 minutes Paul Watson was booked for tough tackle on Weaver and Stevenson's free-kick was deflected over the crossbar by Crighton.
Montrose hit back with their best chance of the match, a huge McNeil clearance put Sean Anderson clean through on goal, but the striker's attempted lob from the edge of the box was well over the bar. Watson then flighted in a dangerous-looking free-kick which smacked the crossbar and went out of play.
A minute before the break, Anderson was sent clear of the Shire defence by a Gemmell through ball, but the youngster seemed to lack the composure to shoot and was caught by Donaldson.
Shortly before half time, Fraser Milligan flagged to the touchline that he could play no further part due a hamstring injury. The youngster has performed very well in recent weeks at right-back and the youngster received a standing ovation from the Montrose fans for his contribution as he was substituted for Daryl Nicol.
Conditions deteriorated in the second half and it seemed to have a greater impact on Montrose playing into the increasing wind. In 50 minutes Dean Richardson took the ball from deep and tried a 20 yard shot which forced McNeil into a low save.
In 63 minutes the Shire scored the only goal of the game. Jamie Stevenson beat Alan Campbell before dropping the ball to Paul Weaver. Weaver played a cheeky one-two with Rogers before evading a challenge and rocketing the ball into McNeil's top corner from 20 yards.
John Gemmell, who had a fruitless shift on the left was substituted by Marek Tomana in a bid to try and get Montrose back in the game but the Slovak never really got going.
Montrose kept plugging away with the majority of play coming through Hegarty and Watson. Both players demonstrated their ability to hold onto the ball under pressure and pick out a good pass.
This was a much improved performance from the Berwick match; the back four held up very well and the marking was much more diligent. Tweed and Crighton were looking more like their partnership at the end of last season and keeper McNeil was very solid. In midfield, Watson and Hegarty were excellent winning the majority of tackles and headers.
Montrose: McNeill 7, Milligan 6 (Nicol), Campbell 6, Hegarty 7, Tweed 7, Crighton 7, Trialist 6, Davidson 6, Gemmell 5 (Tomana), Watson 7, Anderson 6.
