Match Report

Stenhousemuir v Preston Athletic on 26.12.20

Scottish Cup First Round

Stenhousemuir  4 [McGuigan 17,79. Tiffoney 29, Hodge 90] Preston Athletic 1 [Edmond 46]

Stenhousemuir – Martin, Tiffoney [b61], Munro [b51], Little, Blair, Hodge, Halleran [Fairley 80], Graham, McGuigan, McCracken and Spence [Biabi 76]. Subs not used – Erskine, McQueen and Brown

Preston Athletic – Livie, Austin [Stokes 50], Innes, Young, O’Connor, Forsyth, Pennycuick, Williams, Edmond, Bathgate [Chapman 50] and Murray [Molloy 71]. Subs not used –Jardine, Hamilton, Jack and Bain.

Referee – Kevin Graham         Assistants – Gordon McCabe and Jordan Bruce

With driving rain and strong winds the elements certainly looked as if they could be a factor in a potential cup shock at Ochilview. Preston had already had a famous win against Stenhousemuir at Prestonpans in their first win against a league side and although that was a few years ago they were looking to do the double.

This game marked the debut of Adam McCracken for Stenhousemuir as a signed player after he had been a trialist the past couple of weeks. With Callum Tapping and Josh Grigor both suspended this gave Thomas Halleran to stake his claim to get back into the starting eleven.

Preston were to have the first shot on target in the first minute when Ben Bathgate’s strike was saved by Paddy Martin. Stenhousemuir had the wind at their backs though and created the better chances throughout the first half. There was a scare for Preston in the second minute when Mark McGuigan collected a through ball but from a wide angle fired just the wrong side of the post.

He was to make no mistake though in the 17^th minute when he put the Warriors ahead when he passed the ball into the net from a Greg Spence layoff with Preston aggrieved as they felt that Spence had been offside. The home side extended their lead in the 29^th minute through Johnathan Tiffoney who pinged a long range effort into the top corner of the net to show the others how it should be done as he was starting to become frustrated with other long range attempts.

Spence had caused problems throughout the half and struck the crossbar in the 35^th minute when he prodded the ball past the keeper. It was not all one traffic though and Kai Austin hit a powerful shot that was saved by Martin.

Preston though were to reduce the deficit almost immediately after the restart when Jonathan Edmond fired home from close range after being picked out by Dale Pennycuik. This gave the visitors a lift though their keeper did well to keep a Greg Spence header out on the hour mark. There was a real scare in the 66^th minute for the Warriors when a long range effort by Nathan Stokes clipped the crossbar.

Matt O’Connor almost sneaked the ball home after getting on the blind side of the Stenhousemuir defence at a set play but he hit the side netting from close range. There was a touch of controversy in the 77^th minute when Marc Molloy almost took full advantage when Andy Munro got the ball stuck under his feet and appeared to make a clumsy tackle as the Preston player advanced to the box. No award was forthcoming though much to the dismay of Preston.

Two minutes later they felt even worse when a Stenhousemuir counter attack ended with McGuigan slotting the ball home from a Botti Biabi cross and they were to get a fourth in the 90^th minute when Jack Hodge tapped home a rebound from a Ryan Blair shot to put a gloss on the game that was tighter than the final score suggested.