Stenhousemuir FC v Dunfermline Athletic

Match Report

Stenhousemuir v Dunfermline Athletic at Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir on 06.02.16

SPFL Ladbrokes League One                        Att 1,328

Stenhousemuir 0 Dunfermline 3 [El Bakhtaoui 41, Geggan 52,78]

Stenhousemuir – C.McCabe, McCormack, Summers [B50], Meechan, Murray [b83], J.Robertson, Gilhaney, Millar [Scotland 54], McMenamin [Small 78], Stirling and Cook [Manzana 61]. Subs not used –  Malcolm, Marenghi, S.Robertson and McCroary.

Dunfermline Athletic – Murdoch, Reid, Talbot, McKay, Richards-Everton, Geggan [R.McCabe 82], Paton [Hopkirk 73], Falkingham, Moffat [Wallace 66], El Bakhtaoui and Cardle. Subs not used – Byrne, Rooney, McCrossan and Hutton 

Referee – David Lowe          Assistants – Anthony Cooper and Finlay Currie.

The Warriors made three changes to the side that drew with Brechin during the week. Graeme Bowman was injured in training so Colin McCabe was signed from Celtic on an emergency loan, Jim Paterson was unavailable so Ciaran Summers came in for his first start since August whilst Kieran Millar had recovered from illness so took his place in the starting eleven with Anthony Marenghi dropping to the bench. Dunfermline made two changes with Craig Reid making his debut after signing from Motherwell and Joe Cardle coming into the side.

Prior to the game there was a minutes silence for ex-Warrior Harry Glasgow and ex-Par Davie Thomson who both passed away recently.

Both teams have been struggling on the goal scoring front recently  but when the Fifers were last at Ochilview in September they tore the Warriors apart and although their performance was not up to that standard they were better than of late and by the end of the game won by a comfortable margin.

The early stages of the game were fairly even with the home side giving at good as they got but the play usually faded in the final third. The closest that either team came to breaking the deadlock being in the 28^th minute when McCabe made a fine double save first to tip a Cardle shot onto the bar then recovered to smother a Geggan effort though the Dunfermline player was flagged offside. At the other end a good move ended when a Mark Gilhaney cross into the middle was just too high for Colin McMenamin and a Stephen Stirling strike was deflected into the arms of Andy Murdoch. Dunfermline came close through Faissal El Bakhtaoui and Michael Paton but they eventually took the lead in the 41^st minute when El Bakhtaoui was allowed to run with the ball and took full advantage to stroke the ball into the net from the edge of the box. Immediately after the restart a Josh Falkingham effort just went wide before Jon Robertson struck the base of the post with a free-kick. In the 51^st minute McCabe superbly tipped a deflected Geggan free-kick over the bar but it was to be to no avail as Geggan headed the resultant corner into the net. The Warriors suffered  a double blow at this stage as Kieran Millar went off injured after going down in an earlier Stenhousemuir attack. Chances for the Warriors were few and far between in the second half but they did have one after Gilhaney won the ball in midfield  then linked up with Carlos Mazana and Jon Robertson but when the cross came in Stephen Stirling totally fluffed his volley. The action was at the other end of the pitch and in the 69^th minute Cardle was able to cut in and release a shot that was pushed out by McCabe, Geggan responded first but his goalbound shot was blocked by one of his own players. He didn’t have long to get his second though as Dunfermline scored their third and final goal in the 78^th minute when careless play by Jason Scotland gave away possession and the ball was swiftly transferred to Geggan who tucked the ball away. In the last minute Summers was winded whilst in the process of shooting just wide but was able to continue before the final whistle blew.