Match Report

MATCH REPORT
Stenhousemuir v Falkirk at Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir on 24.11.18
William Hill Scottish Cup Third Round Att 2,115
Stenhousemuir 4 [McBrearty 12,16, Dickson 59, McGuigan 85] Falkirk 2 [P.Paton 6, McKee 42]

Stenhousemuir – Smith [b30], Neill, McBrearty, Donaldson, Ferry, Gibbons [b33], Dickson [Halleran 90], H.Paton [b86][Reid 93], Duthie, McGuigan[b90][Vaughan 90] and Cook. Subs not used – McMinn, Tena and McMenamin

Falkirk – Fasan, Kidd [b74], McGhee, Muirhead [b77][Dallison 80], P.Paton, Petravicius, Lewis, Robson, Brough, McKee [b72] and Irving [Sammut 68]. Subs not used – Mitchell, Dumbaya, Russell and Jarvis.

Referee – Alan Newlands Assistants – Anthony Cooper and Craig Ferguson

With both sides bottom of their respective divisions the Scottish Cup was seen by many as a welcome distraction and a possible spicy affair between two clubs that are close geographically but with Falkirk normally ahead in a football sense.

As the Warriors still hadn’t appointed a manager once again Colin McMenamin took the reins and later in the week he was to drop the interim from his official title.

Both managers had to make enforced changes to their squads with Stenhousemuir unable to select Kevin O’Hara as Falkirk are his parent club and Seb Ross as Aberdeen didn’t want him cup-tied. Ray McKinnon was unable to play Zak Rudden as Rangers didn’t want him cup tied and Scott Harrison broke down in the warm up and had to be replaced by Aaron Muirhead who was just returning to the squad after long term injury.

The game started ominiously for the home side with Falkirk threatening from the start of the game and it came as no surprise when they took the lead in the 6th minute when Paul Paton fired home from close range after a couple of Dennon Lewis efforts had been cleared off the line. The Bairns supporters were in full voice at this stage but they were to be shocked by a swift comeback by Stenhousemuir.
Connor McBrearty was the unlikely hero scoring not only his first senior goal in the 12th minute but also his second four minutes later. Both goals came via headers with Ruaridh Donaldson creating the first and Alan Cook the second. In between Leo Fasan had to look sharp to save a Conner Duthie free kick. Stenhousemuir were to create the better openings after this with Falkirk shell shocked and Mark McGuigan had a great chance to extend the lead following good play between Harry Paton and Cook but the glancing header went just wide.

Before the end of the half though the scores were level when Joe McKee fired home after a clever flick by Diemantas Petravicius split open the home defence. Normally when a full time team gets back into a game at this time they have the habit of building on this and usually win the game comfortably.

On this occasion though the Warriors were able to maintain the momentum that they had for most of the first period and they took the lead once again just before the hour. Falkirk were caught out by a swift Stenhousemuir attack which ended with one defender against three attackers and Mark Ferry who could have elected to shoot himself passed the ball to Sean Dickson to drive the ball home.

This time Falkirk were unable to get back into the game and Stenhousemuir who had looked fairly comfortable as the game progressed made sure of the tie in the 85th minute. A Fasan miskick was played back into McGuigan who rolled his marker before tucking the ball into the net. This led to chants of “we want 5” but although Stenhousemuir didn’t go nap there was jubilant scenes when the final whistle blew.

Later that night the Warriors were drawn against Aberdeen. This is only the second meeting between the clubs in the Scottish Cup with the Warriors victorious at Ochilview in the 94-5 season. Aberdeen will obviously be looking to make full use of home advantage in the January tie.