Match Report

Arbroath v Stenhousemuir at Gayfield Park, Arbroath on 21.9.13

SPFL League One             Att 596

Arbroath 3 [Erwin 34, Hamilton 68, Cook 81] Stenhousemuir 4 [Hodge 21, Higgins 48, Gemmell 56, Dickson 64]

Stenhousemuir made one change from the team that played the previous week with Bryan Hodge returning to the starting eleven after being out through injury, and he was to have a considerable impact on the game.

The home side started with bags of energy and Stenhousemuir withstood a tricky start to the game though the closest that Arbroath came to opening the scoring was through a Paul Sheerin shot that was deflected wide by Nicky Devlin.

Sheerin then created the best chance of the game so far in the 15^th minute when he crossed to Steven Milne who headed towards goal and was only denied by a superb one handed save by Chris Smith. Sandwiched in between these opportunities Kevin McKinlay fired over at the other end after a Brown Ferguson corner was only scrambled to the edge of the box.

It was a surprise though when Stenhousemuir took the lead in the 21^st minute when Bryan Hodge latched onto a loose ball 25 yards out and drilled his shot into the net past a despairing Scott Morrison.

Arbroath created a chance in the 33^rd minute when David Banjo was given too much room down the right wing and his cross picked out Bobby Linn who shot wildly past the goal. The Warriors failed to heed the warning though and they were to pay for this a minute later when Lee Erwin was given similar room down the left but he shimmied inside and thundered a shot past Chris Smith. After that Sheerin saw an effort tipped over as Stenhousemuir had their rockiest spell of the game.

The second half saw Stenhousemuir come out fighting and they took the lead in the 48^th minute. Ross McMillan had seen a header from a Brown Ferguson corner tipped wide, but from the next corner by Bryan Hodge , John Gemmell headed down to Sean Higgins who slid the ball home.

This goal certainly settled Stenhousemuir and they imposed themselves on the play with Arbroath struggling to cope with the movement in the Stenhousemuir attack. They extended their lead four minutes later when Nicky Devlin played the ball down the right flank to Darren Smith who crossed into the danger area where John Gemmell fired home with an overhead kick. Scott Morrison was called into action again in the 55^th minute but this time he denied Gemmell with a fine stop from 6 yards out and he then made another save from Higgins as the home defence was carved open by a precision cross from McKinlay.  The fourth goal eventually came in the 64^th minute when Sean Dickson picked up the ball in midfield and fired a shot towards goal that could only be helped into the net by Colin Hamilton.

Four minutes later Hamilton put the ball in the net at the right end of the pitch when he netted a rebound after a header from a Bobby Linn corner was cleared off the line as was the first rebound before Hamilton netted.

A minute later Ross McMillan saw a header from a Ferguson corner go just over and in the 75^th minute another corner caused the home side problems with this time Eddie Malone having his header cleared off the line by Alan Cook. The Red Lichties scored their third in the 81^st minute when Cook scored from close range.

This set up a nervous end to the game when the Warriors should have been done and dusted and with tensions rising John Gemmell was cautioned for rolling back onto the pitch after originally suffering a head knock and eventually going off the pitch. Arbroath had continued to play on and when they felt that Gemmell was time wasting they expressed their disproval in no uncertain terms and sub keeper Tony Bullock went too far and was sent off from the bench by the referee Des Roache.

Mr Roache added five minutes stoppage time at the end of the game and Arbroath almost took advantage to equalise when Chris Smith had to make a fine save to deny Milne and with practically the last play of the game they were denied a penalty when Ferguson tackled Cook who went down but the referee was well placed and waved play on before eventually calling the game to a halt with the Warriors victorious.

Arbroath – Morrison, Banjo, Hamilton, D.Smith, Travis [Bayne 85], Donaldson, Linn, Chisholm, Erwin, Milne and Sheerin [Cook 64]. Subs not used – Sibanda, Yao, Lindsay, McWalter and Bullock.

Stenhousemuir – C.Smith, Devlin, McKinlay [b58][Malone 63], R.Smith, McMillan, Hodge, Dickson, Ferguson, Gemmell [b87], Higgins[b25] [McNeil 85] and D.Smith [b24][Anderson 89].  Subs not used – Douglas, Lynch, Brash and Shaw

Referee – Des Roache   Assistants – Alastair Mather and Steven Traynor