Match Report

Albion Rovers v Stenhousemuir at Cliftonhill, Coatbridge on 2.11.19

SPFL Ladbrokes League Two                         Att 209

Albion Rovers 2 [East 25, Morena 38] Stenhousemuir 1 [McGuigan 34]

Albion Rovers –  Goodfellow, Fagan [b73], Clarke, Wharton, Krones, Morena [Doherty 93], Roberts, Phillips, East, Byrne [Osadolor 77] and Scally [See 81][b90]. Subs not used –McDonald, Potts and Fee

Stenhousemuir – Smith, O’Neil [McBride 82], Armstrong, Marsh, Halleran [Anderson 59], McGuigan, Hopkirk, Cook, McLaughlin [Scullion 86], A.Munro and Gibson. Subs not used – M.Munro, Dykes, Potter and Marley

Referee – Kevin Graham                    Assistants – Andy Milne and Jonathan Bell

Both teams went into this game on the back of a sequence of poor results but the home side were hoping that their unbeaten run against the Warriors at Cliftonhill would extend to twelve matches.

The Warriors made several changes to the team with Mark McGuigan and David Marsh returning to the starting eleven and it looked as if the alterations were having the desired effect as they created the better chances in the opening exchanges and overall looked fairly comfortable.

The home side weathered the early phase of the game and began to threaten themselves. Euan East was the main threat and Alan Cook made a timely interception in the 13^th minute to end an attack. East was denied in the 23^rd minute after a swift counter attack following a Stenhousemuir corner.

Two minutes later it was East who made the breakthrough firing home from just inside of the box after picking up a throw in by Scott Roberts. This goal gave the Coatbridge team confidence and Smith did well to tip a Daniel Scally daisy-cutter round the post.

That looked to be a vital stop as Stenhousemuir drew level in the 34^th minute after Mark McGuigan pounced to fire a loose ball home after a Thomas Halleran cross had been deflected into his path. The visitors were unable to build the momentum though as they were to be back in arrears four minutes later.

Guiliano Morena scored his first ever goal for Albion Rovers when he reacted quickly after the visitors failed to clear their lines at a Roberts free-kick. Although the Warriors tried to get back in the game they were unable to create any clear openings with Bryan Wharton holding the Rovers defence together.

Although the half time whistle blew with Stenhousemuir in arrears it was a better performance than of late and it gave something to build on for the rest of the game. That was the hope anyway but the reality was different as the home side created by far the better chances throughout the second half.

They realistically should have put the game beyond doubt but they missed a number of glorious chances though a combination of top class goalkeeping and dreadful finishing and on another day the score could have been five or six in the Rovers goal tally.

Sometimes when a team misses so many chances they are made to pay for it and this was almost the case when Ryan Goodfellow made a superb save to tip a McGuigan shot past the post. That was not the closest though that Stenhousemuir came to equalising as Kieran Anderson lifted the ball over the advancing keeper in stoppage time only for Jason Krones to get back and clear the ball off the line.

In the end though it was a case of too little too late as the Warriors slumped to their fourth defeat in a row but at least on this occasion there were some glimpses of improvement though the low points in the game were alarming to say the least.