Stenhousemuir v Cowdenbeath at Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir on 13.02.10

Irn Bru Scottish Second Division                   Att 443

Stenhousemuir            0 Cowdenbeath 0

 

Stenhousemuir – McCluskey, Lyle, S.Thomson, Gibb, J.Smith [McLeod h/t], Thom, Love [Quinn 68], Scullion [b43][so 48], Dalziel, I.Thomson [b73] and Motion. Subs not used – D.Smith, Stirling, and Bennett

 

Cowdenbeath – Hay, Armstrong, Adamson [so 90], Winters [b72][Baxter 90], Droudge, Mbu, Fairbairn [b69], McQuade, Wardlaw [b34], Robertson [Stein 68][Ferguson 82] and Ramsay. Subs not used – McGregor and Bower

 

Referee – Neil Watters           Assistants – Alan Cunningham and James Burns

 

 

Although the game ended with neither team scoring and few shots hitting the target it was actually a far better game than the statistics implied. The Warriors started positively and could have taken the lead in the first minute when a Pat Scullion cross was picked up by Kevin Motion but his first time strike went wide of the target. This was to be indicative of the way that Stenhousemuir failed to take their chances throughout the game. 

 

Cowdenbeath responded with a hooked effort by Gavin Wardlaw and this was followed by a good run by Paul McQuade who played it wide to Dene Droudge but the danger was cleared by a timely interception by Iain Thomson in the 6^th minute. The roles were swapped a couple of minutes later when it was Droudge’s interception to clear a dangerous Iain Thomson ball into Scott Dalziel. The best chance of the first half came in the 23^rd minute when Scullion played the ball through to Robert Love on the right and he picked out Stephen Thomson at the edge of the box but with the goal in sight the defender shot wildly over the bar, There was a scare for the home side when a Brian Fairbairn corner was missed by Chris McCluskey but Cowden failed to pounce on the bouncing ball. In the 34^th minute skipper Jordan Smith had to receive lengthy treatment after being caught in the face by Wardlaw’s elbow with the Cowdenbeath  player booked. Stenhousemuir almost took the lead in the 40^th minute when a quick Kevin Motion free kick out to the right flank was swung in by Willie Lyle and Scott Dalziel struck a powerful effort just over from 12 yards out. With two minutes of the half to go Scullion was cautioned for a soft foul on Fairbairn.

The Warriors made an enforced change at half time with Jordan Smith unable to resume and he was replaced by Chris McLeod. Within a minute of the restart Cowden almost scored with McQuade shot just wide from a Droudge cross.

Stenhousemuir suffered a setback in the 48^th minute when they were reduced to ten men when Scullion was dismissed for his second booking. It was a controversial decision as the referee deemed that a tackle on Kenny Adamson was just a foul and nothing more despite possibly showing studs, but after the stand side assistant intervened Scullion was sent off. This brought about an angry reaction from the Stenhousemuir players though if the referee had shown the card without the assistants intervention there might have been more acceptance of the decision.

 

Cowdenbeath tried to capitalise on their numerical advantage as the home side reorganised and McQuade thought he had scored with a powerful strike from 10 yards out in the 53^rd minute but somehow Chris McCluskey brought off a miraculous save.

This was followed a minute later by another scare when Droudge whipped in a cross that three players just missed.

 

Gradually though Stenhousemuir settled down and when Iain Thomson’s corner to the near post was flicked on by McLeod it just needed a touch to score at the back stick. A couple of minutes later A Motion corner was tipped over by David Hay.  

 

Stenhousemuir continued to build on this and matched their opponents throughout the rest of the game and apart from the odd occasion it was not noticeable that they were a man down. In the 74^th minute of the game a poor pass by Jay Stein back to Hay was just gathered in time with Paul Quinn about to intercept. Four minutes later Scott Gibb was played through by a reverse Iain Thomson pass but he failed to hit the target from a good position.

 

Cowdenbeath almost snatched the lead in the 80^th minute through a dipping Fairbairn free kick that McCluskey just managed to push out for a corner.