St Andrews United gaffer Greg Shields assesses rollercoaster start to new season

Saints had trailed 2-1 with just five minutes remaining but turned the game on its head late on when a Lewis Sawers strike was followed by McManus’s belter.

And boss Shields told the Herald and Citizen: “Ryan’s a great guy and he’s capable of that. He had a few last year.

"We know what he's like from that distance. He's got a lovely right foot.

"He had one just a few weeks before that against Civil Service which hit the crossbar. He's got great technique in areas like that.

"I pretty much guarantee when Ryan gets it, he's going to hit the target from that distance.

"We were delighted to win. It's always good to get off to a good start.

"Very tough fixture. I don't think the club had won there in a number of years. Good win, albeit maybe a draw would have been a fair result.

"We galvanised after they scored their second goal with ten minutes to go and we made the right changes within. And the subs that came on were excellent and had an impact on every goal.”

Stressing there had been pre-match nerves among the United camp – the squad featured nine new players only signed this summer – Shields added: “It's always hard to embed new players into the set-up.

"It's just part and parcel of adding new players that they have got to understand what we're after.

"And that may take another couple of weeks.”

As if to illustrate that point, Saints followed up their success at Sauchie with a 2-1 home loss against Dundonald Bluebell in their second league game of the season on Tuesday evening.

Despite St Andrews leading 1-0 at half-time against the run of play via Lewis Payne’s headed goal, a Lucas Berry double turned the match on its head in Bluebell’s favour.

Shields said: “Dundonald deserved to win the game. They were better than us.

"Alan Fleming was excellent in goal for us. He made about three or four good saves in the first 20 minutes.

“Dundonald came after us. We struggled to cope with the pressure that they were putting us under, the physicality.

"We made a mistake, but overall I'm not reflecting on that and saying a mistake cost us the game. It didn't.

"Our own performance cost us the game because it was a poor performance. But these things happen, right?

"You can't go from week to week to week and you play well every time. It's part of football, it's part of management.

"We've made a couple of errors now that's cost us goals. The players need to work harder and learn from their errors.

"We’ve got experience and inexperience and we need to find the balance.

"I keep saying to the players that they have no given right to win any game at all. Dundonald were hungrier than us on Tuesday night and that's why they won.

"We discussed it, we lick our wounds and move on.”

A busy start to the season continues for United with Saturday’s home league game against Hutchison Vale followed by a trip to Cowdenbeath in the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup second round next Wednesday, August 6.

Shields said: “The aim is to win every game. If we don't, we get a point.

"It's hard to accept when you don't deserve to lose a game, you put everything into it and you create chances.

"But we never did that on Tuesday night, so it’s how we react now. That's the important thing.

"I have a squad of trusted players. We've got a good group.”