Stenhousemuir vs Montrose

Match Report

MATCH REPORT
Stenhousemuir v Montrose at Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir on 6.10.18
SPFL Ladbrokes League One Att 362
Stenhousemuir 3 [Cook 22, McMenamin 50 McGuigan 90] Montrose 2 [Antoniazzi 35, Steeves 90]

Stenhousemuir – Smith, Donaldson [b74], Neill, Tena, Ferry [b44], Paton [O’Hara 88], McGuigan, Duthie, Cook [Gibbons 90], Dickson and McMenamin [b57][Reid 79]. Subs not used – McMinn, Ross, Vaughan and McBrearty.

Montrose – Millar, Masson, Steeves, Webster, Dillon, I.Campbell, Bolochoweckj [b30][Callaghan 71], Clegg, Johnston, Cavanagh [R.Campbell 81] and Antoniazzi [Rennie 62]. Subs not used – Watson [b66], Harrington, Redman, and Fleming.

Referee – Graham Beaton Assistants – Gordon Crawford and Kevin Lindsay.

Both teams showed great spirit in this game which belied the teams positions at the bottom of the table in an entertaining match. The last meeting between the clubs all but crowned Montrose as League Two champions but both have found it harder going in the higher league.

Montrose took the game to Stenhousemuir in the early stages of the game and could have quite easily built a lead. The closest that they came though was in the seventh minute when Graeme Smith pushed out an Iain Campbell cross that fell to Graham Webster and his shot beat the keeper but was cleared off the line by Jesus Garcia Tena. Gradually the home side came into the game and Sean Dickson will have felt that he should have tested the Montrose keeper after being picked out by Alan Cook.

Home attacks were still rare though when they took the lead possibly against the run of play when Colin McMenamin played in Cook who smashed the ball into the net. On the half hour Michael Bolochoweckj was cautioned for a foul on Harry Paton and from the resulting free-kick Tena whipped a shot just past the post.

Montrose equalised in the 35th minute when they took advantage of poor play by Stenhousemuir that was punished when Craig Johnston was able to play the ball through to Christian Antoniazzi who showed composure to slip the ball past the advancing Smith. Connor Duthie showed good skill to create an opening but ultimately shot wide. With a minute to go the Links Park men were awarded a penalty after Danny Cavanagh was brought down by Mark Ferry who was duly booked. Iain Campbell stepped up to the mark and hit a powerful spot kick but somehow Smith got across to make a brilliant save.

That would have been hard to take for the Montrose faithful but it was to get even worse before the half time whistle blew. Terry Masson bulleted a header into the net from a Webster cross but the effort was ruled out by the referee though there was much confusion about exactly why it was disallowed.

If Montrose had went into the interval ahead it could have had a major bearing on the game but Stenhousemuir took full advantage of the life-line when Colin McMenamin scored in the 50th minute to put the Warriors ahead when he tucked a Cook cross home from close range. There followed a decent spell for the home side and Montrose were not able to get to the heights of the first half. Their frustrations showed when unused substitute Paul Watson was booked for dissent in the 66th minute.

As the game progressed the Links Park men came close without causing Smith any problems apart from at corner kicks but they drew level in the 90th minute when Andrew Steeves met a loose ball on the edge of the box and time seemed to stand still as the ball went into the net.
This could have adversely affected Stenhousemuir but to their credit they sought the winning goal and achieved their aim in the fourth minute of added time when Mark McGuigan swept the ball home after a Duthie run had caused the Montrose defence major problems. That was the final counter and meant a vital win for the home side who moved off the bottom of the table.