Stenhousemuir v Ayr United at Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir on 1.3.11

Irn Bru Scottish Second Division              Att 484

Stenhousemuir 3 [Dalziel 36, Smith 52, Williams 63 pen] Ayr United 1 [Bannigan 6]

 

Stenhousemuir were forced to make a couple of changes to the team that beat Peterhead on Saturday with Scott Fusco working and Grant Anderson missing after a work related injury.

 

The home side started brightly with Scott Dalziel firing wide but it was the Honest Men who took the lead in the 6^th minute when Stuart Bannigan fired home after Mark Roberts had beaten the offside trap.

 

The pace of the Ayr forward was causing problems for the home defence and Michael Moffat

could have extended their lead in the 13^th minute after Scott Gibb was initially caught out but he did not panic and managed to recover the situation just in time. Sandwiched in between these efforts Andy Stirling saw a curling effort from an Eric Paton pass saved by David Crawford.

 

Moffat tested Ally Brown in the 25^th minute when the keeper had to make a one handed save to deny the Ayr marksman .

 

Ayr threatened again in the 30^th minute when Moffat once more beat the offside trap but his cross to Mark Roberts was intercepted by Ally Brown.

 

Gradually Stenhousemuir had came into the game and Andy Stirling had a powerful drive saved by David Crawford, this was followed minutes later by a Scott Gibb effort that squeezed just the wrong side of the post from 18 yards out. The defender injured himself in this move and was replaced a minute later.

 

He was still on the field though to celebrate a Stenhousemuir equaliser when a Stevie Murray cross was deflected into the path of Dalziel and he shot home from 20 yards out. Ayr’s last real effort on goal came in the last minute of the half when Alan Trouten shot wide.

 

The Warriors had been boosted by Dalziel’s goal and came out for the second half as a more confident unit. They took the lead in the 52^nd minute when a Sean Dickson corner was not cleared under pressure and fell to Jordan Smith who headed home from close range must to the ire of the Ayr management who felt that a foul had been committed though it looked to be more bad defending than anything else.

 

Stenhousemuir came close to adding to their tally in the 61^st minute when only a leg denied Andy Stirling after a flowing move and seconds later Stevie Murray waltzed into the box beating three players but his shot took the slightest of deflection and went just wide.

 

A goal looked to be coming though and it did in the 63^rd minute when Stenhousemuir were awarded a penalty when Scott Dalziel got on the blind side of Eddie Malone who brought down the Warrior and ex-Ayr player Alex Williams converted the penalty sending David Crawford the wrong way.

 

Stenhousemuir were comfortable after this and it was just a matter of time before they were able to celebrate their second victory on the bounce. Ayr’s Andy Rodgers and Andy Stirling were booked in an incident that threatened to overflow after the game as the Ayr player was still rather heated but Stirling was not interested in confrontation and just wanted to savour victory

 

This win meant that Stenhousemuir climbed off the bottom of the table but there is a long way to go in the season and they know that they must keep up the recent habit of picking up points to be safe

 

Stenhousemuir – Brown, Lyle, Dickson, Gibb [Thom 37], Smith, I.Thomson, Stirling, Dalziel [Lynch 76], Williams Paton and Murray.

Subs not used – Sloan, Clark and McCluskey

 

Ayr United – Crawford, Lauchlan, Smith, Malone, Campbell, Trouten, Willis [Tiffoney 74], McLaughlin, Moffat, Roberts [Robertson 81] and Bannigan [Rodgers 63]

Subs – Rodgers, Tiffoney, Robertson, Millan and Jones

 

Referee – John McKendrick                      Assistants – Andrew Dallas and Craig Napier