Arbroath v Stenhousemuir FC

Irn Bru Scottish Second Division                 Att 402

Arbroath 0 Stenhousemuir 3 [Motion 18, Love 54,65]

Following five straight league defeats a trip to Arbroath is usually one of t he least likely places that Stenhousemuir would want to travel to. Victories at Gayfield have been limited to say the least and the last time that Stenhousemuir savoured victory there was back in 1999. Arbroath however have been struggling this season and after the resignation of John McGlashan are still in a state of transition and the Warriors were looking to capitalise on this.

There were several changes to the starting eleven with Stephen Thomson, Chris McLeod and Scott Dalziel replacing Alan Reid, Willie Lyle and Iain Diack. In the early stages of the game Arbroath had the bulk of the play but in the main were unable to penetrate the Stenhousemuir defence that held firm. The first time that either keeper was called into action was after 5 minutes when Darren Hill made a comfortable save from Robert Love after the ball was headed into his path by Dalziel. Two minutes later the ex-Falkirk keeper was called into action again and this time had a bit more difficulty as he tipped a Kevin Motion corner onto the top of his own bar.  Arbroath were undaunted by this and kept up the territorial advantage and although Stenhousemuir sometimes gave away possession cheaply they at least held Arbroath at bay. In the 19^th minute the Warriors took the lead and once again it was a Motion corner that caused the problems . This time Hill failed to get a touch and the ball went in at the far post.  Arbroath responded positively to this setback and they made strong claims to the referee when Kevin McMullan was felled by a Chris McLeod but referee Gary Hilland deemed that the contact was fair. The Warriors were using the ball well at times when they had it and a clever ball by Motion behind the home defence almost paid dividends but Hill was just able to intercept from Love in the 25^th minute. Within a minute a Love cross was just scrambled unconvincingly away by Robbie Raeside with Dalziel ready to pounce. The Red Lichties went straight up the park and Bryan Scott hit a powerful drive from the edge of the box that was well saved by Chris McCluskey.  Marc McCulloch had an attempt saved in the 35^th minute but Stenhousemuir held on to the end of the half.

In recent games the most nervous time for Stenhousemuir has been straight after the resumption as the players seem to take a while to get back into their stride and are therefore at their most vulnerable. Once again this was the case as Arbroath came out with more vigour as they tried to get the equaliser. They had a trio of shots in the 48^th minute the first two were blocked and the third flew just wide of the target. This looked to be the way things were going to go in the second half but the Warriors were handed an opportunity to ease the pressure in the 54^th minute. Ian Dobbins passed the ball almost straight to Dalziel who was left with only the keeper to beat. Hill did well to block the shot but with defenders getting back to the scene Dalziel had the presence of mind to pick out Love and he fired high into the net to put the Warriors two goals ahead.

Once again Arbroath came back strongly but Bryan Scott was to be denied by a timely interception by Gary Thom. Stenhousemuir however were growing in confidence and Craig Molloy had an effort that flashed just wide before Love secured all three points with a thundering effort from outside the box after a quick throw in. Molloy was denied by Hill in the 70^th minute when he stopped a well executed volley. Scott Dalziel was cautioned before the end for raising his hands but all in all this was a very good day for the Warriors who not only picked up the three points but moved off the bottom of the league with Arbroath now taking that position.

Arbroath – Hill, McMullan, Redman, Dobbins [b43], Raeside, Bishop, Lunan [Gates 68], Gibson, Scott [Milne 85], Hislop [Ross 34] and McCulloch.

 Subs not used – Rennie and Morrison

Stenhousemuir – McCluskey, I.Thomson, S.Thomson [Brand 80], Thom, Smith, McLeod, Love [Bradley 77], Scullion, Dalziel [b76], Molloy and Motion.

Subs not used – Diack, Stirling and Bennett

Referee – Gary Hilland                    

Assistants – Tom Murphy and Michael McNab