Albion Rovers vs Stenhousemuir

The opening exchanges were cagey, with few clear-cut chances for either side. The first half chance for the Warriors fell to Thomson in the 16^th minute as he got his head onto the end of a Forbes freekick, however the header ended up straight at the keeper.

The boys came close again shortly after, also from a Forbes freekick. This time, being a lot closer to goal, Forbes went for the shot and got a fair amount of venom behind the strike but once again it was straight down the throat of Binnie in the Rovers goal, who was able to parry clear.

On 29 minutes, the ground erupted as the home support were certain that they should have been awarded a penalty. Crighton failed to deal with a long ball, allowing Byrne through on goal before he went to ground just inside the box. Fortunately for the Warriors the referee saw nothing in the challenge and play continued.

The home side should however have taken the lead before half time as Wedderburn lost possession in the defensive third, allowing Docherty to take it past Jamieson, only to place his effort just shy of Marshalls left hand post.

The scoreline remained 0-0 till half time, with the Warriors seeing the better of the play but needing to tighten up at the back and just find that final pass in attack.

The second half couldn’t have gotten off to much more of a worse start for the boys as Albion took the lead. Roberts was slipped through on 49 minutes, before finishing low across Marshall’s goal and in off the far post.

The heavens then began to downpour in Coatbridge just as the Warriors rallied and began to put on the pressure. The equaliser came in the 63^rd minute after some patient  build-up play saw Wedderburn dink a fantastic ball in behind the Rovers defence into the path of Orr who poked home in off the bar.

It didn’t take long to complete the turnaround  and 6 minutes later it was 2-1 to the Warriors. Jamieson played a stunning switch out to Christie on the right who controlled and sent an excellent ball into the back post area where Thomson was waiting to nod home.

The boys then began to dominate even further and could have put the game to bed as O’Reilly stole the ball inside the Albion box before his goal bound effort was tipped wide by Binnie.

It looked like the Warriors were home and dry, however Rovers hit back with a sucker punch in the 90^th minute to make it 2-2. The Warriors failed to clear, resulting in the ball falling to David Wilson 20 yards out, before he curled a sensational effort into the top corner.

The Warriors showed some good football and picked up their first point of the season, however made it difficult for themselves at times and will be disappointed to not have picked up all 3 points, especially having been in the lead so late on.

Stenhousemuir: Marshall, R. Lyon, Jamieson, Crighton, Coll, Forbes, Wedderburn, J. Lyon, Brown, Orr, Thomson

Substitutes: Anderson, Christie, Mills, Hughes, Wilson, Graham, O’Reilly, Tierney, Reid

Albion Rovers: Binnie, Lynas, El-Zubaidi, Leslie, McGowan, D. Wilson, C. Wilson, Roberts, Reilly, Docherty, Byrne

Substitutes: Fee, Robinson, L. Wilson, Stevenson, Fernie, Dolan, Smith, Fagan

Post match reaction: Robert Thomson