Brechin City v Stenhousemuir FC

Match Report

Brechin City v Stenhousemuir at Glebe Park, Brechin on 27.4.13

Irn Bru Scottish Second Division                 Att 474

Brechin City 1 [Trouten 75]  Stenhousemuir 2 [Rowson 7, Reid 36]

The last time Stenhousemuir played at Glebe Park they lost 7-2 so the fact that they travelled without top scorer John Gemmell for a game they had to win was an added worry. In fact the Warriors had last won at Brechin in February 1999 so the omens looked bad for this match that was vital for the play-off hopes of Stenhousemuir.

On the plus side though were that the Warriors had won their last three games and as a consequence the confidence was fairly high. Brechin went into this game knowing that they had qualified for the play-offs and as they were in the middle of a hectic schedule they were able to rest a couple of players for this game.

There was only one enforced change to the Stenhousemuir team with Stewart Kean returning from injury to replace Gemmell, though Kean was not up to full match fitness yet.  The Warriors started the game brightly taking the game to their hosts and in the second minute a Nicky Devlin cross was laid back by Kean to Jamie Reid and his shot from outside the box was saved by Michael Andrews.

Brechin responded with a David McKenna effort that went wide but the game was mainly played at the other end of the park and the Warriors took the lead in the seventh minute. A Darren Smith cross was cleared out to David Rowson and he struck a sweet half volley from 25 yards past Andrews and into the net.

The Warriors didn’t sit on their laurels though and continued to push forward. After Darren Smith just failed to get on the end of a Devlin cross 12 yards out, there was another scare for Brechin when Andrews was unconvincing in pushing out a Reid corner and Reid was able to pick up the rebound and cross to Bryan Hodge whose shot whizzed just past the post. It was not totally one sided though and Brechin showed that they were a threat when Ryan Stewart headed wide of the target.

Stenhousemuir extended their lead though in the 36^th minute with another fine strike. This time it was a curled Jamie Reid effort from distance after he was played in by a Rowson back heel. Reid was unlucky not to get his second in 41 minutes when he was played through the middle but just failed to get enough elevation to his shot to beat the advancing Andrews. 

The second half was a quieter affair than the first, though there was uproar in the 49th minute when Reid was on the end of a crude tackle by Graham Hay who was lucky to only receive a caution for his efforts.

The closest that Brechin came to making the breakthrough in the first quarter was in the 61^st minute when a cross by Garry Brady was headed towards goal by Jamie Reid and Chris Smith made a fine save to stop an own goal. This came just after a triple substitution by Brechin manager Ray McKinnon as he attempted to turn the game around.

He was rewarded for this move in the 75^th minute. The ball was won by Brechin on the left touch line and transferred across the pitch before a swift one two between substitutes Alan Trouten and Ryan Ferguson ended with the former tucking the ball past Chris Smith.

This could have got the nerves jangling but Stenhousemuir did not panic and they came closest to getting the next goal in 85 minutes when Nicky Devlin carved open the Brechin defence with a run from the corner flag into the box before picking out Bryan Hodge just outside the box and the ex-City player was unfortunate to see his effort strike the post with the keeper beaten. A minute later Salim Kouider-Aissa shot just over from a similar position after being set up by Hodge.

Nevertheless Stenhousemuir were able to see the game out without too much discomfort though everyone must have been wondering when the game was going to end as the time added on seemed to go on and on until referee Gary Hilland eventually blew the final whistle.

This win means that Stenhousemuir continue their slim hopes of a play-off spot but with only one game left the final play-off spot is between Arbroath [52pts], Forfar [51pts] and Stenhousemuir [49 pts]. Stenhousemuir though have a far better goal difference than either of the Angus teams.

Brechin City – Andrews, Pursehouse, McLean [b42], Hay [b49], McLauchlan [Ferguson 58], Rodgers, Cameron [Trouten 58], Brady, Jackson [b80], McKenna [Carcary 58] and Stewart. Subs not used – Murdoch and Tough.

Stenhousemuir – C.Smith, Devlin, Ross, McKinlay [b44][Thomson 78], McMillan, Hodge [b66], Reid [Corcoran 80], Rowson, Kean [Kouider-Aissa 68], Dickson and D.Smith. Subs not used – Duncan and Shaw.

Referee – Gary Hilland                  Assistants – David Watt and Morag Pirie