3Match Report
Montrose 5 [Tweed 4, O’Reilly 13,71, Hunter 80,81]
Stenhousemuir 3 [Love 57,88, Ovenstone 86]
For the trip to Links Park the Warriors made two changes to the starting eleven with Scott Dalziel and Alan Brazil replacing Iain Thomson and Iain Diack. This was a welcome return for Brazil after long term injury who was starting for the first time since September.
He almost had an instant impact as he nipped in to take the ball away from Montrose keeper Tony Bullock in the first minute of the game as the keeper stood at the edge of the box. Support was slow to come however and the danger was eventually averted.
Montrose took the lead in the 4th minute from a rehearsed Stephen Black corner kick. The ball was played out to the ‘D’ for ex-Warrior Jamie McKenzie to have a strike and it took a couple of deflections before falling at the feet of Steven Tweed who could probably not believe his luck and he shot pass Scott Bennett and with the help of the post put his side ahead. This was a bad goal to lose as the corner itself was a soft one then the closing down of McKenzie was slow.
As if that was not bad enough the home side scored their second goal in the 13th minute with the Stenhousemuir defence posted missing. Craig O’Reilly gathered the ball on the edge of the box and with him back to goal played a bit of keepie upie before swivelling and striking a volley past Bennett.
They could have extended their lead in the 20th minute when a swift counter attack from a Stenhousemuir corner saw the Warriors defence exposed through lack of personnel and it was with some relief that O’Reilly squandered the chance that came his way.
The Warriors did have the ball in the net in the 29th minute of the game following an obviously rehearsed freekick that Kevin Motion placed into the keeper’s bottom right hand corner. The referee Bobby Madden seemed happy enough to give the goal but assistant Robby Cobb insisted that a couple of Stenhousemuir players had interfered with play and the goal was disallowed. The players concerned had moved away from the danger area before the ball had been struck though and as a consequence the goal should have stood. Craig Molloy was cautioned for expressing these views to the officials.
The sense of injustice about the disallowed goal seemed to spur the Warriors on briefly and they had their best spell of the game and after a Motion effort had been parried behind by Bullock Stenhousemuir should have scored when Andy Brand headed Craig Molloy’s corner over from 4 yards out. A couple of minutes later Brazil just failed to get onto the end of a Dalziel cross when a touch would have probably brought about a goal. This was a small blip though for the Gable Endies and they had several opportunities to increase their lead before the end of the half.
Both teams had chances in the second half before the Warriors reduced the lead in the 57th minute when Robert Love pounced on poor defending by Montrose following a Motion free kick that bounced off two Montrose players into his path and he made no mistake blasting the ball into the net.
With ten minutes to go Montrose scored their fourth when Kevin Bradley was allowed to run from his own half of the field to the danger area without being challenged after the Warriors gave the ball away cheaply and he fed the ball to Roddy Hunter who was unmarked and able to pick his spot to put the game beyond Stenhousemuir’s reach. A minute later Black scored his second and Montrose’s fifth from a similar area with keeper and defence once again in no mans land.
Stenhousemuir scored a consolation goal in the 86th minute when John Ovenstone headed home a Motion freekick though the lack of celebration both on and off the field told the story and a couple of minutes later Love scored his second with a tap in after good work by Scott Dalziel.
These goals at the end may be vital if the Warriors are still in the hunt for a play -off spot at the end of the season but in all honesty are more likely to just gloss over the deficiencies shown in this game where a win was really what was needed but rarely looked likely . The chances of getting into fourth spot now lie outwith Stenhousemuir’s hands as even if they beat nearest contenders Annan the Borders side need to drop other points as they have a far better goal difference.
Montrose – Bullock, Stewart [Russell 83], Pope, McKenzie [Nicol 63], Tweed, Crighton, Milligan [Hunter 58], Davidson, O’Reilly, Bradley and Black. Subs not used – Sinclair and Kelly
Stenhousemuir – Bennett, Reid, McGroarty, McLeod, Ovenstone, Motion, Love, Molloy [b29], Dalziel, Brand [Stirling 75]and Brazil [Shirra 75]. Subs not used – Morgan, Thomson and Renton
Referee – Bobby Madden
Assistants – Steven Craven and Robby Cobb
