The Warriors travelled north to take on Elgin City in this cinch League 2 rearranged clash. It was Stenhousemuir who began the brightest of the two, with Euan O’Reilly causing Elgin problems down the left hand side. The Captain, Gregor Buchanan picked out O’Reilly, who cut inside but his shot was well wide.
The game became a midfield battle for a short period as both sides cancelled each other out. Elgin had a few efforts, but little to trouble Darren Jamieson in the Stenhousemuir goal. Adam Brown was a lively as ever in the middle of the park, and he opened the scoring, as his heavily deflected effort found its way into the back of the net. That was Adam’s 5th goal of the season. Adam came ever so close to getting his, and Stenhousemuir’s, second goal of the match, but Tom McHale made a fine save.
The Warriors continued with relentless pressure, and narrowly missed out on extending their lead. A goalmouth scramble found its way to Matty Aitken who couldn’t convert. Elgin responded well and created a few chances of their own, forcing Jamieson into an acrobatic save. Just a minute later, Matty Aitken had the ball in the net, but was flagged back for offside. This may prove to be a contentious decision. The game continued its frantic fashion, and on the 41st minute Ross Meechan was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity despite the Elgin player never having control of the ball and Darren Jamieson ready to collect. It remains to be seen whether we will be appealing this, however Gary alluded that this may be the case.
Half time came and went, with Edin Lynch coming on for Matty Yates at the interval. Elgin started the second half brightly and found the Warriors camped in their own half. The hosts created several half chances but never fully troubled Darren Jamieson.
The first clear cut chance of the game came in the 71st minute, when Elgin breached the Warriors defence, but the ball cannoned off the bottom of the post. James Berry came on for the last 5 minutes, replacing Euan O’Reilly.
Elgin finally breached our defence, as Rory MacEwan poked the ball home after a goalmouth scramble. Danny Jardine came on for his Stenhousemuir debut, replacing goal scorer, Adam Brown. The game petered out after this, with the referee blowing for full time, seeing both teams share the points.
The team battled away tonight and can count themselves unfortunate to not come away with all 3 points, despite playing the majority of the match with 10 men.
We face Brora Rangers on Saturday at Ochilview Park, as we begin our Scottish Cup journey.
All match information will be posted over the coming days.
Match Report by Rennie Hamilton
