Irn Bru Scottish Second Division               Att 563

Stenhousemuir 1 [Kean 70] Arbroath 3 [Doris 8, Falkingham 36,88]

Going into this game Stenhousemuir have been stuttering whilst Arbroath have been flying high and in the first half it was easy to see the difference in the teams with Arbroath playing full of confidence whilst the home side stuttered throughout.

Arbroath took the lead in the 8^th minute of the game when Steven Doris latched onto a Brian McLean pass and slotted the ball past Ally Brown to put the Red Lichties ahead with his sixteenth goal of the season. Although McLean was the architect of the goal Stenhousemuir were culpable in their own downfall as Michael Devlin was late coming out when the back line were pushing for offside .

There were several chances and half chances for Arbroath immediately after this with Gavin Swankie showing strength to hold off Kevin McKinlay but his powerful effort flew just past the post with Brown beaten. Josh Falkingham then saw a shot go just over the bar as Arbroath looked to take advantage of their dominance.

Stenhousemuir slowly came into the game but struggled however to make any inroads but apart from a clever back header by Andy Rodgers that went wide had to be content with long range efforts to try and make the breakthrough although Kevin McKinlay’s 40 yard effort was well struck but was comfortably saved by Darren Hill.

Arbroath increased their lead in the 36^th minute following a period of pressure through a series of set pieces that had caused problems for the home defence. Josh Falkingham eventually netting from the edge of box after Stenhousemuir failed to clear their lines.

During the first half Stenhousemuir had played with a back three with Willie Lyle dropping to the bench and Iain Thomson therefore wore the captain’s armband. Lyle however was called upon at the restart after the unfortunate Devlin was injured in the last move of the first half. This meant a reshape of the defence with Thomson moving into a central position and Lyle right back as the defence moved to a more conventional back four.

It barely had time to settle before there was another chance for Arbroath when McKinlay gave the ball away to the impressive Falkingham but he managed to make amends by deflecting the shot out for a corner.

Stenhousemuir began to exert more pressure as the game progressed and had a penalty claim turned down when Andy Rodgers tumbled in the box but the referee was not interested in the appeals. On the hour Rodgers once again caused problems skipping past a couple of challenges before his cross come shot was saved by Hill’s legs. Gary Smith then had an effort that looked to be going well wide but swerved at the last moment and just went the wrong side of the post.

Stenhousemuir were eventually rewarded for their efforts in the 70^th minute when Stewart Kean’s header from an Andy Rodgers cross was saved by Darren Hill at point blank range but the keeper could do nothing with the rebound that Kean tapped in.

The Warrior’s were lifted by this and they almost equalised when a Gary Smith header hit the inside of the post and was clutched by a grateful goalkeeper. The cross for Smith’s effort had came from Stevie Murray who had stepped off the bench to make a welcome return after injury.

With two minutes left the referee called back play after an Arbroath player was fouled and they had failed to take advantage of possession. Josh Falkingham stepped up and although he struck a decent shot it looked to be a comfortable save for Ally Brown but it squirmed through his hands and into the net.

This ended the potential comeback but Stenhousemuir had gave themselves a mountain to climb after their poor first half performance and although Arbroath manager admitted that Stenhousemuir had battered them in the second half it was Arbroath that were victorious and continued their push towards the top of the league.

Stenhousemuir – Brown, Thomson, McKinlay, Devlin [lyle h/t], McMillan, McHale, Ferguson, Rodgers, Kean [b11][Murray 80], Smith and Dickson. Subs not used – Campbell, Love and Diamond

Arbroath – Hill, Wedderburn [b85], McAnespie, Kerr, Malcolm, Innes, Falkingham, Gibson [Caddis 75], Doris [Elfverson 84], Swankie [Sibanda 66] and Sheerin. Subs not used – Bursch and Burns

 

Referee – Bobby Madden            Assistants – Francis Andrews and David Lowe