Stenhousemuir v Stirling Albion at Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir on 17.10.09

Irn Bru Scottish Second Division                 Att 801

Stenhousemuir 1 [Motion 40] Stirling Albion 2 [O’Brien 47, Grehan 55]

 

 

Going into this game against the league leaders Stenhousemuir had lost three league games in a row and knew that they would need to be at the top of their game to prevent it becoming four against a Stirling Albion team that had a five point advantage over the second placed team and also double the points of the Warriors.

 

After the disappointment of the previous week at Broadwood there were a couple of changes in personnel. Replacing the suspended Stephen Thomson was a trialist albeit a familiar face in Alan Reid who was helping out on a one off role whilst Robert Love came off the bench for Andy Brand.

 

The first half saw Stenhousemuir take the game to Stirling for the majority of it and Myles Hogarth was the busier of the two keepers, He was first called into action after only three minutes to deny a Craig Molloy effort after good work by Iain Diack. Stewart Devine had a shot saved three minutes later at the other end. The home side almost scored in the 19^th minute when another Diack cross was headed against his own post by Andy Graham. The Binos had another escape in the 24^th minute when a ball over the top of the Stirling defence by Kevin Motion was met by Diack and he thundered a shot goalwards, Hogarth managed to get a hand to it but it was still goalbound before the keeper scrambled back to claw the ball to safety though it was touch and go whether it had crossed the line or not. Stenhousemuir continued to be on the offensive though and Hogarth denied Love who had set himself up nicely from the edge of the box and tried to steer the ball past the keeper but Hogarth got the slightest of touches to divert it round the post. At long last Stenhousemuir were awarded for their efforts when Kevin Motion headed home in the 40^th minute after a Diack cross took a slight deflection and looped up into his path. 

 

This was a well deserved lead at the interval and it was a question of how Stirling Albion would react to this set back in the second period that would determine where the points would eventually go. The league leaders reaction was almost immediate as they came out with their ears ringing after a forceful team talk by Allan Moore and it took only two minutes for them to draw level. David O’Brien pounced upon the ball and burst through the home defence leaving them trailing behind him before dispatching the ball past Chris McCluskey. In the 55^th minute they took the lead when a swift passing move ended with a Ross Forsyth cross being met with a diving header from Martin Grehan that gave McCluskey no chance. To their credit Stenhousemuir did not give up and should have equalised three minutes later but Pat Scullion’s header from close range clipped the bar and went over. Stirling continued to threaten in particular the lively Grehan and most of the action took place at the wrong end of the pitch for the Warriors faithful. They thought that they had got a lifeline in the 75^th minute when Robert Love went down in the box following a challenge by Paul Murphy but no penalty was forthcoming much to the ire of Stenhousemuir manager John Coughlin.   In the 78^th minute Hogarth made a superb save to tip round a Scullion curling drive and secure the win for Stirling. This meant that Stenhousemuir sunk to joint bottom in the league after their fourth straight defeat but they have to keep their heads up as they know that a little bit of good luck will stop the sequence as they matched their opponents throughout the season and just need to keep going.

 

Stenhousemuir – McCluskey, Lyle [b14][Dalziel 82], Reid [t], Thom, Smith, Molloy [Bradley], Love [b51], Scullion, Diack [b76], I.Thomson and Motion [b38][Brand 82]. Subs not used – Bennett and O’Reilly

 

Stirling Albion – Hogarth, Graham [b87], Forsyth, Feakes, Murphy [b39][McCord 84], Robertson [O’Neill 78], Gibson, Devine, Grehan, McKenna [b80] [Mullen 84] and O’Brien.

Subs not used – Corr and Christie

 

Referee – Stephen Finnie   

Assistants – Frankie Connor and Alasdair Ross