Irn Bru Scottish Second Division               Att 347

Brechin City 1 [McKenzie 70] Stenhousemuir 0

 

Once again Stenhousemuir set off on their travels in a sequence of games that sees only one out of six matches at Ochilview. This was the first of the re-scheduled midweek matches that have given the fixture list such a lopped sided look.

 

The Warriors made only change to the starting eleven from that team who won at Airdrie but there were several positional changes. Ross McMillan returned after suspension to the heart of the defence with Iain Thomson moving into his more customary central midfield role and Brown Ferguson playing a wider role instead of Jamie Campbell who dropped to the bench. Jamie O’Grady and Dean Shaw from the Under 19s, although unused substitutes, were part of the squad for the first time.

 

The game started brightly for Stenhousemuir and Paul McHale came close with an effort that Craig Nelson had to tip over the bar. This however turned out to be one of the few saves he had to make in the game.

 

There was a scare at the other end in the 10^th minute when an Ally Brown clearance hit off a Brechin player and ballooned back and the keeper was grateful to see it come off the post as both he and a Brechin attacker jostled to get it.

 

Sean Dickson just failed to emulate his goal on Saturday with an effort that flashed just over in the 16^th minute, This was followed by a Stewart Kean effort that was deflected for a corner. As the half progressed however Stenhousemuir attacks became less and less.

Despite Glebe Park being a narrow pitch the Stenhousemuir midfield was beginning to being pulled out of position on a regular basis and Brechin looked as if they were going to get their reward from a corner kick when Scot Buist headed goalwards but it was scrambled off the line.

 

The second half started brightly for Stenhousemuir and Gary Smith had a chance but shot wide within a minute of the resumption. Play became more end to end for a while and although defences were on top both keepers were called into action in a 30 second spell when firstly Craig Nelson made a very good save to deny Kean and then Brown made an equally fine stop at the other end.

 

Brechin took the lead in the 70^th minute when a quickly hit strike by Rory McKenzie caught Ally Brown out and although he dived the ball went in at his near post. After years of a ‘Rory Mc’ scoring goals and being a general nuisance against Stenhousemuir in the shape of Rory McAllister hopefully this is not the start of McKenzie continuing the role.

 

Stenhousemuir tried to get back on level terms and after Sean Dickson rode three challenges to force a corner they came close to doing so. Brown Ferguson’s corner was met by a Kean header that was scrambled off the line.

 

With 10 minutes to go Davie Irons made a tactical switch to bolster the attack with Kevin McKinlay coming on. He went into the middle of defence with Michael Devlin joining the attacking line. Devlin’s aerial presence gave Brechin more problems than they had previously encountered. Prior to this the Brechin central pairing had won the majority of the challenges with Buist ending up as man of the match for the part he played.

 

Despite Stenhousemuir pushing forward the closest that they came was a Kean header that struck the side netting. For all Stenhousemuir’s efforts Brechin’s sometimes packed defence stood firm and always seemed to be first to pick up the loose ball and thus deny the visitors any clear cut chances before the end of the game.        

 

 

This result means that Brechin are now unbeaten against Stenhousemuir in the last 15 league encounters, a run that stretches away back to 1999, and in truth after a bright start to the game the sequence rarely looked as if it would be broken.

 

Brechin City – Nelson, McLean, Lindsay, Moyes [McClune 53][Fusco 76], Buist, Brady, McKenzie [b89], Molloy, McKenna, McManus [Crawford 85] and Hodge. Subs not used – King and Scott

 

Stenhousemuir – Brown, Lyle [b45], Lawson, Thomson, McMillan, Devlin, Ferguson, McHale [McKinlay 80], Kean, Smith [Rodgers 68] and Dickson. Subs not used – Campbell, O’Grady and Shaw

 

Referee – George Salmond         Assistants – Gordon Middleton and Calum Spence