STENHOUSEMUIR WINS SFSA AWARD
The Warriors did have something to celebrate this weekend when we were awarded the Community Orientated Club of the Year by the Scottish Football Supporters Association.
This was a brand new award for this year, the Warriors have drawn attention from across the country for our community-centred ethos which has led various support initiatives!
We’d like to say many thanks to all our volunteers who give up countless numbers of hours every single week to support the Club, and our community.
Club Chairman Iain McMenemy is presented the award by SFSA CEO, Stuart Murphy.
Stephen Swift made 2 changes from the team that started against Kelty Hearts on Tuesday night.
Peter Urminsky returned after his 7 day return to St Mirren and Adam Brown took his place behind the front 2 of Thomas Orr and Robert Thomson, starting his first game since the 2-0 defeat to Cowdenbeath on 15 January.
The Warriors almost made the perfect start with Tam Orr through on goal, but any hopes of a dream start were dashed as the assistant referee raised his flag for offside.
Stenhousemuir have certainly started as the better side and the introduction of Brown into the team shows how attacking the home side plan on being. Edinburgh seem fine to sit back and soak up the pressure as they look to catch the home side on the break.
The Warriors first shot on target came in the 8th minute. Some nice passing between Brown, Anderson and Miller saw the later take a shot on goal, but there was never enough in it to beat Schwake in the visitor’s goal.
Shortly after came the visitors first shot on goal via a long throw in. The header on goal was easy for the returning Urminsky who didn’t have to jump to take the ball out of the sky.
RED CARD: As Tam Orr was bearing down on goal, he was dragged to the ground by James Farrell. The referee had no choice but to show the defender the red card. Big moment in the match. [14 minutes]
Adam Brown took the resultant free kick and produced a great save from Schwake, as Robert Thomson looked to score from the rebound, the American keeper pulled off an even better save to keep the score level.
The Warriors were close again inside 20 minutes with Nicky Jamieson heading an Adam Brown corner just over. The Edinburgh game plan is clear as Schwake is told to hurry up with the goal kick by the referee.
Stenhousemuir are pushing forward at every opportunity. Edinburgh are now just happy sitting in and would be thankful for the point at this stage. The Warriors have other plans though and are piling on the pressure, but yet to find an end product.
BOOKING: Nat Wedderburn becomes the first Stenhousemuir player to go into the book as he picks up a yellow card for a clumsy challenge. [32 minutes]
Edinburgh had a big penalty shout on 36 minutes following a challenge by Yeats but nothing given. Back up the other end and Schwake again takes an age to take his goal kick with the home players starting to be frustrated by the keepers constant time wasting.
Close for The Warriors as Mikey Miller dummies the ball which runs out wide to Yeats, his driven shot is saved by the keeper for another home corner, which is held by the American.
HALF TIME: STENHOUSEMUIR 0-0 EDINBURGH CITY
No changes at half time as The Warriors need to make the extra man count.
Edinburgh pick up the first chance of the half, and their first corner of the match. The corner caused all sort of problems for the home side, but the ball is eventually cleared.
The home side had a good chance on 50 minutes with Adam Brown taking a drive from outside the box.
SUB: Stephen Swift makes his first change of the half as Ross Lyon is brought on to replace Mikey Anderson. [51 minutes]
Once again, Brian Schwake takes an age to take a goal kick. Swift’s frustration gets the better of him and he picks up a yellow card.
Into the final 30 and the Warriors are pushing everyone forward to try and get a goal. Edinburgh are taking the chance to slow the game down at every opportunity as they struggle to contain the home side.
Adam Brown has another good chance to put Stenhousemuir in front after some good work by Tam Orr, but his shot was dragged wide.
Ross Lyon was up next to try his luck. He got on the end of a neat knock down by Orr but he was forced onto his left and struggled with his shot.
The home side seem to be running out of ideas to break down the Edinburgh defence. They’ve had the majority of the play for the full match, but struggled to find that final ball.
Another chance for Brown but the Edinburgh defenders are getting everything behind the ball, and a corner now for The Warriors which is dealt with by the defence.
SUB: 2nd change of the match for the home side with Daz Christie coming on for Adam Corbett as Swift is desperate for the break through. [69 minutes]
Chance again by Brown. Christie fired the ball across the boxing Brown had the slightest of touches and forced a good save by the keeper.
SUB: Final throw of the dice for The Warriors with Ross Forbes coming on for Nat Wedderburn. [77 minutes]
The Warriors have thrown everything forward but still can’t find the breakthrough. Edinburgh have been stubborn and have slowed the game down every time they could, using any means necessary.
FULL TIME: STENHOUSEMUIR 0-0 EDINBURGH CITY
A frustrating afternoon in the end as Stenhousemuir just couldn’t find the killer touch. Edinburgh will be thrilled with their point given the way they set out but The Warriors will look at this as 2 points dropped.
Stenhousemuir travel to Fife to play Cowdenbeath.
Their last meeting resulted in a shock 2-0 win for The Blue Brazil and The Warriors will be keen to avenge that loss.
The Fife side are in rotten form, scoring 6 losses in their last 6 league games with Stenhousemuir picking up 2 wins, 3 draws and a loss in that same timeframe.
There’s not much separating the sides either in their last 6 meetings with 2 wins each and a 2 draws.
With Edinburgh playing on Friday, Swifty and his boys will know that a win will either leapfrog Edinburgh into 4th, or keep up the pressure on the capital.
There’s no team news as of yet, but keep an eye on our socials on Friday afternoon as we preview Saturday’s match.
Our Ladies team returned to winning ways this week with an emphatic 5-0 victory at home over BSC Glasgow.
Suzanne Wyatt scored her 2nd hatrick in just 8 games, and her season stats are just scary… 8 games played, 13 goals & 5 assists! Connolly and Vickerman also got on the scoresheet for The Warriors.
There are only 2 remaining fixtures for the Ladies team his season, and you can keep up to date on their Twitter page.
SCOTLAND vs POLAND
Scotland will play Poland in a friendly instead of their postponed World Cup play-off semi-final against Ukraine.
The game will be played at Hampden on 24 March, the date of the original tie, with £10 from each ticket sold going to Unicef’s response in Ukraine.
Poland had been scheduled to play Russia that evening, but have been given a bye into a final with Czech Republic or Sweden on 29 March.
Russia have been removed from the qualification process.
“As a father, the images of children in Ukraine has been heart-breaking to watch,” said Scotland captain Andy Robertson, who is also a Unicef ambassador.
“We send our love and prayers to our fellow participants across Ukraine’s football community and hope that the money raised by this match will help the tremendous efforts already made by UNICEF in Ukraine and in helping the refugee situation.”
Scotland and Ukraine hope to meet in June, with the winners going on to face either Wales or Austria, who meet in Cardiff on 24 March.
