Christmas came a month early for Peterhead as the visiting side were handed a 3-1 victory after some woeful home defending by East Stirling.

Three minutes at the end of the first half handed the initiative to Peterhead when in the 42nd minute hesitant keeper Jim Butter stayed on his line when he should have caught an innocuous cross and that allowed Craig Yeats to score with a lob.

On the stroke of half-time a quick break from defence left the Shire rearguard in tatters and Baldur Bepp was on hand to tap in number two.

Nine minutes after the break some more poor defending handed Peterhead a third goal when Butter failed to hold a Yeats shot and Martin Johnstone picked up the loose ball to fire home from point blank range.

Shire woke from their slumbers after Colin Allison threaded a pass through for Steven Hislop to pull a goal back in 64 minutes but their fight back in the closing quarter was to prove in vain.