Stenhousemuir extended their gap at the top of the league as they defeated Elgin 2-0 giving the Warriors fans an early Christmas present with goals from Matty Yates and Matty Aitken.

The Warriors, off the back of seven straight victories named an unchanged lineup for the 3^rd game in a row and were hoping to build on their 2-1 victory over East Fife last week.

It was another dream start for Stenhousemuir as Yates opened the scoring inside the opening three minutes. He pounced on a loose ball between the Elgin defence and Thomas McHale in the Elgin goal and Yates was there just to lift the ball over into the empty net and give the Warriors an early lead.

Stenhousemuir went close again minutes later when they broke quick through Aitken and Taylor down the right wing. Taylor fed Edin Lynch who teed up Mikey Anderson, but his effort was cleared off the line by the defender.

Midway through the first half, Elgin started to come back into the match. Having a dangerous free kick and a breakaway chance from a corner.

Elgin started to capitalise on unforced errors from the Warriors who started to have some slack passes.  towards the end of the first half having a number of half chances. This really summed up the first half which lacked many good chances.

The second half started the way the first ended, Elgin having more of the possession and chances. There was a real worry around Ochilview that Elgin were going to take one of their half chances. But thanks to some good goalkeeping from Darren Jameson, they were unable to do so.

The Warriors were awarded a penalty on the hour mark. Matty Aitken beat McHale to the ball inside the box and was taken out. He then stepped up to take the penalty however, it was saved by McHale, but Aitken was on hand to put away the rebound.

Just a couple of minutes later, the Warriors had a huge chance to get a third, O’Reilly’s floated cross found Aitken who was unmarked, but he flashed his header over the bar.

The game struggled to get any real momentum with subs coming on disrupting any real momentum. Elgin did push to get back into the match but failed to create any real chances.

The full-time whistle went and while the game was not a Christmas cracker, it was an eighth consecutive victory, and eight points clear at the top of the league. The Warriors will look to continue the run going into the match against Clyde next week.

LINE-UPS

Stenhousemuir | D Jamieson, Lynch [Meechan 59′], Buchanan, N Jamieson, Bilham, Wedderburn, Taylor [Brown 59′], Anderson, Yates [Berry 84′], O’Reilly [Ferrie 84′], Aitken

Substitutes not used | Lyle, Sweenie-Rowe, McKay

Goals | Yates [3?], Aitken [62?]

Assists | Taylor [3?]

Bookings |

East Fife | McHale, Cooper [MacInnes 94′], Dolzanski, Ewan, McKenzie, MacEwan [Cairns 80′], Dingwall, Cameron, Jamieson [MacLemon 70′], Taylor [Harvey 79′], Jones [Barron 70′]

Substitutes not used | King

Goals | 

Assists | 

Bookings | Cameron

Player of the Match | Gregor Buchanan

Match report by Angus Blacklock