IRN BRU Scottish Football League
Division Three
Saturday 29th August 2009
Stranraer 2 Montrose 0

Montrose Football Club crashed to the bottom of Division Three after losing by 2 goals to a solid, if unspectacular, Stranraer side that were able to take their chances on the day. It wasn’t a pretty affair; the strong winds and wet surface killed any aspirations of flowing football and it will have been an extra miserable journey home for boss Steven Tweed who will be wondering when some of the good luck will be coming his way.
Montrose lined up with Steven Coutts in goals and a back four of Hegarty, Sinclair, Tweed and Sean Crighton fresh from suspension. The midfield consisted of Davidson and Sean Anderson in the middle, John Maitland in an unfamiliar right midfield role and trialist ex Clyde player David McGowan on the left. Up front John Gemmell and Daryl Nicol looked to form a partnership following the release of Jon Voigt earlier in the week. The bench lined up with Hall, Stewart, Gray, Adams and the injured Alan Campbell.
The game kicked off with some Stranraer pressure in the first ten minutes, Steven Tweed was forced to concede two corners which were cleared with ease by the Montrose defence.
In the tenth minute a direct ball from Chris Hegarty beat the Stranraer back four but Nicol was unable to anticipate the high bounce and the keeper collected.
Montrose continued to pass the ball around and had a few half chances with McGowan attempting a shot which went wide and John Gemmell hammering a 20 yard shot which was parried away for a corner.
Against the run of play in the 17 minute, Stephen Noble was clearly in an offside position as the Montrose back four kept a firm line at a cross field ball, Noble then laid onto Danny Mitchell who point blank fired at Steven Coutts. The young keeper was unable to power the rebound away from danger and DANNY MITCHELL bundled the ball home. As with recent games, Montrose found themselves 1 goal down.
Montrose immediately had the chance to reply with a free kick opportunity around 25 yards out but John Gemmell hammered it over the bar.
The Gable Endies crafted an excellent move with some slick one touch football between Hegarty, Gemmell and Maitland to Daryl Nicol but the youngster was unable to pull the trigger as he was muscled off the ball.
Stranraer remained a danger and around 40 minutes, journeyman striker Michael Moore embarrassingly ballooned two chances into orbit after some pressure from Tweed.
Again Stranraer pushed forward and McInnes was given a chance but fired wide.
A needless corner was given away when a Chris Hegarty headed pass back wasn’t anticipated by Coutts, thankfully both got out of jail when the corner was easily dealt with by Sean Crighton.
On the stroke of half time some good passing and movement between Maitland and Hegarty released Maitland for the cross but he was unable to make enough space, he slid a poor pass back to Hegarty who had no time on the ball and had to hit first time, the wind propelled the ball into orbit and it eventually returned to the stadium, on the wrong side of the bar.
There was a very sluggish start to the second half and Stranraer began to dictate a slow tempo and looking to hold onto possession.
Montrose hit the bar in the 55th minute with David McGowan’s wind assisted strike from 20 yards out.
Shortly afterwards, the impressive Sinclair worked with McGowan to cut Stranraer’s retreating defence open, McGowan slotted a good pass to Nicol but the young striker lacked the composure at the 18 yard box and allowed the defence to catch up with him. In the 70th minute, Steven Tweed made two changes with Ryan Stewart coming on for Daryl Nicol and Nick Gray replacing trialist McGowan and switched to three up front.
Stranraer didn’t offer much in the second half but struck again after some poor defending, McColm had a shot-cum-cross excellently saved by Coutts and the rebound fell to a Montrose player who proceeded to head the ball straight into the path of an incoming RAY MONTGOMERIE who had the easiest of tasks to head home.
The 72nd minute goal effectively killed the game for Montrose and again the tempo of the game was controlled by the Stranraer midfield.
During the myre of the goal Steven Coutts picked up an injury and was replaced by debutant Stuart Hall who was still recovering from a rib injury.
The game was beginning to spire out of control when Sean Crighton was booked by a strict referee who had already booked Davidson, Tweed, Anderson and Sinclair. This was followed by a spat between Gemmell and the Stranraer back four.
The final whistle condemned Montrose to the bottom of the table for at least two weeks.
Montrose didn’t play badly; they simply lacked the chemistry between midfield and the forward line. There were good performances from Crighton, Tweed, Sinclair and McGowan but overall the midfield didn’t work hard enough to win the second ball and gave the ball away too cheaply.
Stranraer frequently took control from the second balls and directly passed to the flanks for Montrose to chase.
Tweed will be looking to Milligan and Fleming to provide some creativity and final ball from the midfield once they return from injury and trialist David McGowan will have given Tweed some food for thought, whilst he was not match sharp he looked to be the main source of danger.
In recent weeks the team has been unlucky with some of the goals conceded, injuries and refereeing decisions and hopefully this will change soon. The international break will be welcomed by Tweed and it will allow time for some of the injured players to begin building their fitness.