Stenhousemuir FC v Stirling Albion

Match Report

Stenhousemuir v Stirling Albion at Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir on 14.7.12

Pre-season friendly

Stenhousemuir 2  Kelbie 81, Gemmell 87 pen], Stirling Albion 2 [Brass 49, Davidson 79]

Stenhousemuir – Reidford, Ross, Dickson, Buist [Kelbie 55][t], McMillan, Hodge, Kean [Love 58], Rodgers, Gemmell, Paton [Brash  58]and Ferguson. Subs not used – Docherty

Stirling Albion – Peat [Cleland 70], McGeachie [Thom 30], Ashe [McAnespie 70], McSorley [McPherson 67], McDonald [Kirwan 70], Allison [Clark h/t], McCulloch, Flood [Day 70], Coyne [Brass], Davidson and Ferry [McCafferty 67]

Referee –Gary Hilland    Assistants – Stuart Hodge and Stephen Graham

Stenhousemuir went into this game with new signing Callum Reidford in goals after he had signed the previous day. As seems to happen on a fairly regular basis his debut was against his old club as he was Stirling Albion last season. Another ex Albion player Kevin Kelbie was on the bench as a trialist for Stenhousemuir in this game.

This of course was the first game for Martyn Corrigan in charge after the unexpected departure of David Irons during the week. Martyn was at this stage still a caretaker manager but he would have been happy in some respects with the performance though he would have been disappointed with others.

During the first half Stenhousemuir dominated and created a number of decent chances but managed to miss them all and had to go into the half time interval on level terms when on another day they could have quite easily been 4 or 5 up. The most creative effort had came from a delicate chip by Andy Rodgers that Mark Peat managed to just save though with difficulty. 

The start of the second half saw the visitors who had been fairly quiet take the lead after Gary Brass headed home as he took advantage of poor marking to guide the ball home following a decent cross by Gary Thom.  The youngster had been on loan at Camelon last season and was hoping to make a push for a regular spot in the Stirling squad.

That goal gave the visitors some confidence and despite making a number of substitutions they were not disrupted too much and they extended their lead in the 79^th minute when Scott Davidson ran though a gaping hole in the Stenhousemuir defence and fired home.

The response to this setback with have cheered Martyn Corrigan though as the Warriors reduced the deficit two minutes later with a decent move that involved Ross Brash and Brown Ferguson before the ball was played into the middle to be swept home by Kevin Kelbie.

The Warriors were now pushing forward and they were given the chance to equalise when ex-Stenhousemuir youth player Jamie Clark tripped John Gemmell in the box and the big striker stepped up to strike the resultant penalty into the net and draw the game level. The match ended with no further scoring and thus both teams had positives to focus on as well ponder on the deficiencies in their play.