IRN BRU Scottish Football League
Division Three
Saturday 30th January 2010
Berwick Rangers 0 Montrose 2

Montrose FC finally secured that illusive first league win of the season at the 20th time of asking against promotion contenders Berwick Rangers. After going so close in so many games this season Montrose finally charted three points and even had a bit of lady luck along the way. The win is perfect preparation for next weeks trip to Easter Road for the Active Nation Scottish Cup Fifth Round against SPL side Hibs.
Manager Steven Tweed signalled his intent to bring three points home by lining up with a dynamic 4-3-3 formation. The team consisted of McNeil, Sinclair left back and new signing Stephen McNally at right back with Sean Crighton and Alan Campbell looking to emulate their early season partnership at CB. The midfield lined up with Davidson, Hegarty and Milligan across the middle. Upfront were Tosh, Nicholas and Gemmell. The bench lined up with Coutts, Tomana, Maitland and Nicol.
Montrose were motivated and keen to establish themselves early on; Fraser McLaren gifted posession and John Gemmell was sent through on Mark Peat, sadly the striker fluffed the shot and Peat saved comfortably. Montrose pressed on and Aaron Sinclair jinked past 2 players from the left with the ball and released Nicholas on the right who fired in a good ball towards Hegarty, sadly he was unable to find a way through to goal.
After the early pressure from Montrose, Berwick finally got out of 1st gear and began to sit in the opposite half with Fraser McLaren and Andrew McLean overlapping frequently and causing problems for Sinclair. Berwick won a number of corners at this point, and the first moment of note included McNally clearing off the line and past McNeil's right hand post. This was closely followed by Ian Little finding space and a free header at the back post, fortunately he failed to capitalise and sent the ball straight at McNeil. Berwick looked more likely to score at this point as the back four and McNeil struggled to contain the numerous crosses and corners.
It was to be Montrose who took the lead on 24 minutes, some excellent work by Tosh brought Nicholas into play on the right hand side of the pitch, he got in behind the full back and aimed a cross at John Gemmell who managed to swing his foot round and guide it in off of Steven Notman's thigh. The goal lifted Montrose and they continued to give the home defence a torrid time with Tosh and Gemmell being a constant nuisance with runs into channels, headed flicks and closing down the home side at every opportunity.
Montrose were playing direct football and whilst it wasn't particularly pretty it was very effective. Nicholas was constantly getting space behind the home defence and he was carving out chances for his team mates with some excellent through balls, one such move sent Gemmell through on goal again and he really should have taken a bit more time with his attempt. Shortly afterwards, Hugh Davidson was sent through on goal and the captain should have buried it past the oncoming Peat but scuffed his shot straight at the ex-Montrose keeper. At half time; Montrose were ahead and would probably have preferred another 10 minutes of play, whilst the Berwick players trudged off the park in anticipation of a half-time roasting from manager Jimmy Crease.
The 2nd half kicked off with John Maitland coming on for Nicholas, the striker was carrying a groin injury and was taken off as a precaution. Montrose switched to a 4-4-2 with Maitland going into the centre of the park alongside Hegarty.
Berwick rallied in the earlier stages of the 2nd half and pushed Montrose onto the back foot with a series of crosses and corners, McNeil had looked very shaky when coming to claim crosses and Jimmy Crease had obviously instructed a more direct game to capitalise on this weakness. It almost worked for Radsinsky on 60 minutes when McNeil gifted the striker the ball from 3 yards out, fortunately for Montrose, the striker ballooned the ball over the bar. Wave after wave of home attack continued but Alan Campbell and Sean Crighton were first to every ball and every header.
As Berwick pressed for an equaliser, Montrose continued to press for a 2nd goal. An excellent 1 touch move on the right hand side including Gemmell, Milligan and Tosh presented John Maitland with an opportunity but the youngster made a poor decision and sent the ball high and wide from 18 yards when he could have clearly taken a few more touches into the box. It was becoming apparent that Berwick were struggling up front and in midfield, they could have played for hours and failed to score, as Berwick kept coming forward play was broken up by Hegarty, Davidson and Campbell, and turned into a counter attack. As the game was approaching the 90th minute McNally and Milligan exchanged posession on the right, with McNally playing a direct ball up to Gemmell who timed his jump perfectly and headed onto Paul Tosh who was in space, from there the striker trundled through Mark Peat and slotted the ball home. JOY! Tosh was smothered by his teammates as Montrose could sense victory. The striker has now scored 4 goals in 4 games looks like a fantastic piece of business by Steven Tweed. As Brian Colvin called full time; Montrose finally breathed a sigh of relief with a very good 3 points finally on the board.
Steven Tweed and Jim Moffat will be pleased at what they saw; it was a steely win based on some resolute defending and combative midfield play. Gemmell and Tosh linked up very well up front and the Berwick defence will be delighted to see the back of them for a few months. The back 4 were solid, with Campbell in particular looking much improved upon recent weeks.
Man of the Match? There were a number of good shifts but it was Hugh Davidson who came out on top. The Captain has had a torrid season but he covered a lot of ground, won a number of tackles and controlled play for the majority of the game