Former Partick Thistle and Queen’s Park striker Shaun Fraser gave Irvine Meadow fans a glimmer of hope by firing the only goal of the match on Saturday.

Opponents Kilbirnie Ladeside had their chances, but rock-bottom Medda defied the odds to pick up their first home win since September.

Mind you, manager Davie Greig had an inkling that Fraser might just end up the match winner against the Blasties.

He said: “We scored in the first couple of minutes, and it was a terrific goal.

"Shaun started up front and had a wee point to prove as he had been on the bench the week before – and never got on.

“But he had a terrific week at training, and his whole attitude screamed ‘I better be playing this weekend’ and he took that motivation into the game against Kilbirnie.

“For the goal, he won the ball in the middle of the park, played a great reverse pass out to Adam Strachan, and when he crossed it into the middle, Shaun had continued his run and headed home to give us the lead. It was a fantastic header.

“I’m not usually one for singling out players because it’s a team game, but it ended up a really good week for Shaun.”

Despite the win, Medda are still occupying bottom spot in the top flight, six points adrift of second-bottom Petershill, but with two games in hand.

More importantly, though, it’s a second successive game undefeated, although high-flying Troon lie in wait this Saturday.

Greig said: “We’ve now taken four points from our last two games and absolutely nothing has been decided yet, so we will keep going till the very end.

“This is a massive test for us this Saturday against Troon, and a huge test for the lads, because when they played them earlier in the season they lost 8-0.

“The game will also tell me a lot about my players, because they will still be mentally scarred from that thumping defeat. They will be hurting and will be wanting to make amends for it.”

Greig added: “The group of players I have at the moment are a talented bunch, that’s not in question, but I think they’ve been a wee bit unlucky this season.

“You need a wee bit of good fortune in football, and we got that on Saturday. Kilbirnie are a very good side and should have scored, but Chris Wilson popped up on the line to somehow keep it out.

“It was a great win and training will be good this week after the victory AND fantastic performance.”

Former Blantyre Vics boss Greig has admitted he was surprised where Irvine Meadow were in the table when he took over at the turn of the year.

He said: “They’ve had a few injuries but individually they are good players. Mind you, I don’t think many people would’ve had ourselves, Arthurlie and Petershill down at the foot of the table at this stage of the season.

“Medda and Petershill are probably two of the biggest clubs in junior football, so it is a surprise, but that’s where we are and we need to get out it.

“We are at home this weekend but Troon will have designs on winning the championship so it will be a tough game.

“As far as I’m concerned the title is still up for grabs. Four or five teams are still in with a shout of winning it. Mind you, our battle is different, but we will fight until the last game to give ourselves every chance of staying up.

“There are expectations at a club like Medda but, to be honest, there are expectations at every club, because they all want to win games.

“It has been a difficult season for the club, both on and off the park, but hopefully the win on Saturday has given everyone a boost.

“And the hope is that we can build on that when Troon visit Meadow Park. It might just be that professional pride spurs on the guys to get some revenge for that 8-0 drubbing. That’s the hope anyway.”