Alloa Athletic v Stenhousemuir FC

Irn Bru Scottish Second Division               Att 584

Alloa Athletic 1 [Walker 19] Stenhousemuir 2 [Anderson 57, Paton 61]

Going into this game it was felt that the Warriors had to get all three points to keep pressure on Alloa for the play-off spot whilst a defeat would have virtually seen Alloa secure their Second Division status for another season.

The Warriors went into this game without the suspended Scott Gibb so Gary Thom deputised. There was a second start for Stuart Love up front and he would have been hoping to emulate his success of Thursday night when he scored the winning goal for Scotland Under 18 schools against England at Inverness.

Stenhousemuir started the game in positive fashion and a strong run from his own box by Grant Anderson ended with a Stevie Murray effort at the other end that went past the post though the winger would have felt that he should have done better with his effort.

It was not long however before Alloa began to cause problems at the other end and Chris McCluskey was called into action in the 8^th minute to save from Kurtis Bryne after the ball was knocked down to him by Jim Lister. A minute later Lister turned Gary Thom on the edge of the box before firing a low shot that just missed the target with the keeper beaten.

Alloa were beginning to get on top of the game and Stenhousemuir rarely had any constructive play. It was still a shock however how easy it was for them to take the lead in the 19^th minute when Scott Walker headed home a Darren Smith corner. They almost doubled their lead in the 22^nd minute when a Michael McGowan free kick took a deflection and it took a superb instinctive save by McCluskey to keep the status quo score wise.

Stenhousemuir were having a nightmare defending set pieces and they seemed to live a charmed life at times especially in the 37^th minute when the ball was almost put into his own net by Gary Thom.

When the half time whistle blew there was still only a one goal margin and this gave Stenhousemuir a chance to re-organise and come out fighting for the second half.

Alloa showed that they were not going to settle for only one goal as they came out attacking at the start of the second and Bryne beat the offside trap in the 50^th minute and should have scored but McCluskey did well to extend himself and save the effort. Three minutes later the Wasps were unlucky not to score when a cross field shot by McGowan clipped the post.

Scott Dalziel came on for the tiring Love in the 55^th minute and although not fully fit he had a big impact on the game. Within two minutes of coming on he had created the equaliser when he chested the ball into the path of Grant Anderson and he rifled the ball past the helpless Jamie Ewings and into the net.

The Warriors got a lift from that goal and four minutes later they took the lead though they did need a helping hand to do so. There seemed no danger for Alloa when Michael Dunlop knocked the ball in the general area of the keeper but when Ewings picked the ball up it was deemed a pass back and the referee blew for an indirect free kick. A short pass was made to Eric Paton who steered the ball past the wall and into the far corner to give Stenhousemuir a vital goal.

This was a body blow for the home side and although they never got back in control of the game they did have chances to equalise before the end. In particular efforts from ex-Warrior McGowan brought out the best of McCluskey whilst a Nathan Taggart effort towards the end brought out probably the best save of the day.

When the final whistle blew their were jubilant scenes in the Warriors camp as they know that they live to fight another day and with Peterhead losing and thus relegated the worst scenario during the regular season is a play off spot though they will be trying to get away from that situation as it is frought with danger particularly with a patched up squad.

Alloa Athletic – Ewings, McClune [b16], Dunlop, Gibson, Walker, Scott, McGowan, Ferguson [b80], Lister, Bryne [Prunty 64] and Smith [Taggart 64]. Subs not used- Noble, Motion and Sandison

Stenhousemuir – McCluskey, Lyle, Dickson, Thom, Devlin, I.Thomson, Anderson [Gilmour 86], Love [Dalziel 55][b68], Lynch [Hunter 90], Paton and Murray. Subs not used – Sloan and Brown

Referee – Bobby Madden            Assistants – Derek Rose and George Drummond