Stenhousemuir extended their lead at the top of the table to 15 points as they defeated Dumbarton 1-0 thanks to Ross Taylor’s first goal for the club. 

Gary Naysmith named one change to the side that was defeated up in Peterhead last Saturday. Bradley Rodden came into the side for Matty Yates who dropped to the bench. 

Stenhousemuir had the first chance in the match when Adam Brown’s free kick was knocked on by Ross Meechan, but the referee blew his whistle for a foul by Gregor Buchanan in the box. Just a minute later, Stenhousemuir had another chance when Adam Brown whipped in another free kick. The visitors struggled to clear, and the ref pulled play up with a Dumbarton defender down in the box.

Dumbarton started to take control of the match midway through the first half. They started getting a couple of chances. There was a Deep cross by Lennon, but nobody could get on the end of it. Then just two minutes later the Sons had an excellent opportunity, Ruth cut in from the left and had an effort on goal, but Darren Jamieson was on hand to save the shot. 

Stenhousemuir came back into the game just before half time having a couple of chances. There was some good play by Rodden. O’Reilly won the Warriors a corner, but the ball is lost, and Adam Brown received a booking by stopping a Dumbarton counter attack. 

Then just before half time the Warriors had another free kick which caused the Dumbarton defence all sorts of problems however, they were able to clear the ball away from their box. 

The second half started with end-to-end action. The visitors with the first corner of the half, but the wind caught the ball, and it drifted out for a goal kick. 

Dumbarton went on to have a couple of good chances. The first one came on the counter attack when Ryan Wallace burst forward but his effort was well saved by Jameson. Carlo Pignatiello also had an effort saved. 

The game changed on the hour mark when Gary Naysmith made a double sub with Brown and Rodden both going off for Ross Taylor and Matty Yates. 

They both made an instant impact as their pace really helped the Warriors get forward. Ross Taylor almost caught out Hogarth at his near post, only seconds later, Mikey Anderson rattled the crossbar from 25 yards. 

Former Stenhousemuir player, Sean Crighton went into the referee’s book for cynically bringing down Ross Taylor on the counter attack. From the resulting free kick, Matty Yates free kick was parried by Hogarth, but Ross Taylor was on hand to put away the rebound. 

The game then became quite feisty with Ryan Blair getting a second yellow card for a cynical foul on Mikey Anderson. There were also multiple bookings being handed out. Ross Taylor was one of the players to pick up a booking. 

Stenhousemuir were able to use the man advantage to their strength and they were able to keep a hold of the ball fairly well and were able to pass it about comfortably. 

As expected, Dumbarton pushed late in and had a couple of great opportunities to get an equaliser. Wallace had an effort saved and James Hilton found himself in acers of space inside the Stenhousemuir box. He was able to get an effort on goal, but his tame shot was saved by Jamieson. 

That proved to be the last chance of the match as the referee blew his whistle just a couple of minutes after which was greeted with loud cheers from the Ochilview faithful.

Stenhousemuir

1. Jamieson, 2. Meechan, 4. Buchanan, 18. Lynch, 14. Bilham, 16. O’Reilly [Kirkpatrick 82’], 17. Anderson, 20. Jacobs, 11. Brown [Taylor 50’], 9. Aitken [Stirling 92’], 30. Rodden [Yates 58’]

Dumbarton

31.Hogarth, 12. Pignatiello, 21. Newbury, 26. Crighton, 28. Lennon, 27. Kelly [Orsi 67’], 18. Gray [Wilson 72’), 6.Blair, 14. Wallace [Healy 68], 9. Wallace [Hilton 82’], 23. Ruth