But he also knows he can't rest on his laurels.

The on-loan Morton front man was the star of the show, grabbing two
goals in a Shire performance that was as impressive as long-time watchers of the club could remember for a while.

However, the presence of a certain Colin Cramb should keep his feet on the ground.

The experienced striker was rested for the rout of the Sons and,
afterwards, made noises about how hard it would be to get himself back in the starting 11.

Graham (pictured right), meanwhile, despite his success, was the very model of diplomacy.

"I don't know about that," he said. "Colin is a great player and I know I will have to keep working hard.

"I put myself out of the team after getting sent-off and hopefully now
I can stay in it. But there are a lot of good players here and I know if I don't do well I'll be out."

After several impressive performances as a substitute for Cramb, he clearly believed the time was right for a start of his own.

"I've been working hard in training and I've been scoring goals coming off the bench. Now I've been given the chance and I think I've taken it," said Graham.

But it will be up to coach Jim McInally to decide and he says he will continue to pick a team according to circumstances – not by reputation.

"No-one was dropped as such," he explained. "We were just trying to keep everyone fresh and it certainly worked.

"Cramb understood that the way we wanted to play, with the strikers chasing everything, might not have suited him after two games already this week."

The performance not just of Graham, but also Derek Ure and Sean Anderson – the other changes from the team that beat Annan Athletic – again proved the coach's point about the depth of the squad available to him.

"I've got 17 players who I would be happy to give a start to every week," he claimed.

"When I was at Morton there were three or four players who were only there as back-up, but that's not the case here."

And each of those players are growing in confidence with each game.

This trouncing extended Shire's unbeaten run to seven matches, and the kind of self-belief and confidence such a string of results gives shone through against Dumbarton.

The Sons were on a great run themselves and stood a chance of going top of the league with a win, but Shire had other ideas.

Dean Richardson was the architect of the first strike, robbing Sons skipper Gordon Lennon and firing the ball to Graham at the back post for the tall front man to score from six yards.

Yet the rampant home side couldn't make their superiority tell until a crucial two minute period either side of half-time.

In the final minute of the first half Andy Rodgers was pushed in the back by Dumbarton's Mick O'Byrne as he tried to reach a Graham cross from the left. Rodgers stroked the resulting penalty kick into the back of the net.

And in the first minute of the second half Ure's centre was rolled into the empty net by Craig Donaldson from inside the six yard box.

But Shire didn't sit back on their three-goal lead. After 59 minutes Ure's left-wing corner eventually landed nicely for Graham to volley home.

And they kept piling on the pressure. Sub David Dunn, only on the pitch two minutes, sent in a terrific, dipping free-kick from the right that deceived everyone and dropped into the net to make it 5-0.

It hardly mattered if Shire took the foot off the accelerator after that. Indeed, there was no more than some mild annoyance at Dumbarton scoring two goals in the final three minutes.

Derek Carcary raced through on goal and shot past Jamie Barclay, then Ben Gordon headed home Stevie Murray's free-kick from wide on the left.


EAST STIRLINGSHIRE 5
Graham 22, 59, Rodgers 44 (pen),
Donaldson 46, Dunn 63

DUMBARTON 2
Carcary 87, Moore 90
(HT 2-0)
Attendance: 516


East Stirlingshire: Barclay 8, Hay 8, Richardson 8 (Dunn 62, 3), Forrest 8, Bolochoweckyj 8, Tully 8, Donaldson 8 (Kelly 47, 4), Graham 9 (McKenzie 70, 2), Ure 8, Rodgers 8
Not used: Newman, Cramb
Booked: Rodgers 79, Forrest 83, Bolochoweckyj 89

Referee: Steven McLean