Stenhousemuir came from behind to win 3-1 with goals from Euan O’Reilly and a Matty Aiken brace.
The warriors made the 71-mile journey north to Station Park to take on Forfar in the cinch league 2. Gary Naysmith made one change from the side that were defeated by Brora Rangers last Saturday; Nicky Jameson returned to the starting 11 in place of the suspended Ross Meechan. But the big news was that both Ross Taylor and Jordan Kirkpatrick were among the subs after being absent for a number of weeks.
The Warriors started positively, some silky footwork from Mikey Anderson who released Adam Brown who then played in Matty Yates, but his shot got blocked.
Forfar responded well as they had a chance of their own inside 10 minutes. Some nice play from Mutale down the left found Paterson on the edge of the box, but his shot was parried over by Darren Jameson. The hosts opened the scoring from the resulting corner as Jamieson punched the corner, but it fell to Nditi. His shot was goal bound but Morrison got on the end of the ball and turned in leaving Darren Jameson helpless.
The warriors should have equalised midway through the first half as O’Reilly’s low driven cross is flicked towards goal by Matty Aitken. McCallum produced a good save down to his right. Yates followed up but was denied by a last-ditch tackle by Allan. Just a minute later, the ball fell to O’Reilly at the edge of the box. He opted to play in Yates, who dragged his shot just wide of the target.
The warriors equalised right before half time, some brilliant link up play down the left wing between Brown & Bilham, Bilham’s cross finds O’Reilly at the back post, who cuts back for Matty Aitken who taps home from close range.
The warriors started the second half as they ended the first half, scoring a goal. This time it put us in front, a brilliant 1-2 between O’Reilly and Aitken, and the former fires home past McCallum in the Forfar goal.
3 minutes after Stenhousemuir took the lead, they had a great chance to double the lead as the warriors were awarded a penalty after a Forfar defender handled the ball. Upp stepped Matty Aiken who scored his second on the day against his former club.
A professional performance in the second half from the warriors meant that chances were very few and far between for either side. Stenhousemuir were able to see out the game with relative ease.
We will hope to build on the victory today as we return to Ochilview next Saturday when we take on The Spartans
