Starting XI

David Wilson, Ross Lyon, Nicky Jamieson, Adam Corbett, Beejay Coll, Ross Forbes, Michael Miller, Michael Anderson, Cammy Graham, Thomas Orr, Robert Thomson

Subs

Nat Wedderburn,  Euan O’Reilly,  Adam Brown,  Ryan Tierney,  Ryan Marshall

Match Report

The Warriors started well and ensured that they were competitive during the cagey opening stages of the match and we came close in the 7^th minute as Cammy Graham’s effort from just inside the box was struck with power but was dragged wide of the near post.

Both teams then exchanged minor half chances before, on the 16^th minute, the Warriors so nearly took the lead. Forbes expert long ball down the right was picked up by Ross Lyon who’s cut back was controlled by Orr inside the box before the striker fired a low effort across goal which rebounded off the far post with the keeper beaten.

As if the pain of coming so near to scoring wasn’t tough enough, the Warriors hit the Cove woodwork again in the 26^th minute. On this occasion, Forbes was pulled down just outside the box on the right hand side, allowing him the opportunity to attempt one of his trademark freekicks. His effort had McKenzie beaten in the Cove goal, however the ball bounced off the crossbar and away from danger.

Our hosts then rallied and began to dictate more of the play. They had a significant chance of their own on 34 minutes as an excellent passing move saw a dinked ball played in behind to McAlister who then knocked it down for Masson, only for the attacker to pull his shot wide of goal from only 10 yards out.

Only two minutes later Cove came close again as Megginson slipped in McIntosh on the right hand side before the winger drove into the box and through on goal. However despite his best efforts to score, David Wilson was able to make himself big and pull off the save in the 1v1 to preserve the clean sheet.

Into the second half, the Warriors remained competitive, however it was our hosts who were creating more chances and looked on top. Despite this, they had to wait until the 62^nd minute to create a real clear cut opportunity. Fyvie latched onto a loose ball infront of the Warriors backline and slipped Megginson through on goal but once again it was Wilson to the rescue by making the block.

Cove continued to dominate the ball and put pressure on the Warriors defence, however the boys withstood it brilliantly to preserve their clean sheet. We threatened occasionally on the counter throughout the half but without creating any clear cut scoring opportunities.

The match finished 0-0, which is not a bad result for the Warriors playing away from home against a side 16 placings above them in the league ladder. However this was not the end of proceedings as the two sides had to be separated and as is procedure in the SPFL Trust Trophy, this was to be done by means of a penalty shootout.

The Warriors were to take first as Ross Forbes stepped up and struck his penalty off the crossbar to the delight of the home supporters. This allowed McAlister to give Cove the advantage by scoring his penalty to make it 1-0. Coll was next up for the Warriors but he also failed to score as McKenzie guessed the right way and made the save. Yule then fired past Wilson to make it 2-0 and really put Cove into the driving seat. The pressure was then piled onto O’Reilly who realistically had to score to keep our hopes alive and he did just that by sending McKenzie the wrong way to make it 2-1. Despite this, Leitch converted Cove’s next spot kick to preserve their 2 goal lead. Brown then scored to make it 3-2, however if Cove scored their next penalty they would win the tie. This job was left to Mitch Megginson who made no mistake to wrap things up at 4-2 to Cove on penalties.

In the end it was our hosts that progress to the next round of the cup to face Albion Rovers, however the Warriors can take a lot of pride from their performance which saw them draw away to a very strong opposition. All attention now turns to a massive League 2 encounter next week against Annan Athletic.

Cove Rangers: McKenzie, Scully, Neill, Logan, Ross, Yule, Fyvie, Masson, McAllister, McIntosh, Megginson

Substitutes: Milne, Gourlay, Leitch, Strachan

Stenhousemuir: Wilson, R. Lyon, Jamieson, Corbett, Coll, Forbes, Miller, Anderson, Graham, Thomson, Orr

Substitutes: Tierney, Marshall, Wedderburn, Brown, O’Reilly

Post match reaction: David Wilson