STENHOUSEMUIR made their return to League One as Peterhead simply ran out of players in the play-off tie.
A headed second-half goal from Russell McLean proved insufficient as Peterhead won the match 1-0 but lost the tie 2-1 on aggregate.
Home skipper David McCracken was sent off for a needless handball midway through the second half – his second yellow card – and Peterhead finished with nine players as Jack Leitch picked up his second caution in injury-time.
Peterhead laid siege to the Stenhousemuir goal in the closing stages but ultimately ran out of options.
Brown Ferguson, the Stenhousemuir manager, pointed out the significance of the occasion for his club.
“Somebody told me before the match that we have won two promotions in our history, maybe three if you count league reconstruction, but outright two promotions,” he said.
“It is a hard, hard feat and it is a big ask especially when you have the likes of Peterhead in the league and Montrose so to go back up at the first time of asking is great.
“But to do it on top of all the work that is going on behind the scenes, from the board to the volunteers, is really pleasing because the club had a sticky spell two or three years ago.
“The work of people behind the scenes to bring it back up to a strong position goes unnoticed but it is so valuable.”
Peterhead manager Jim McInally said: “I am just proud of the players’ efforts when you consider what happened on Wednesday night and what we were left with defensively.
“We have come away with a clean sheet here, which is pretty unbelievable, because we were so vulnerable in the first half.
“I knew in the second half we would have a real go at them but it was not to be for us.”
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