Montrose 1 Stirling Albion 0

Several changes were made to the starting line-up for this SPFL Trust Trophy game against Stirling Albion. The team was Lennox, Webster, Steeves, Quinn, Callaghan, Brown, Watson. Masson, Lyons, Johnston and Antoniazzi.

Referee Chris Fordyce got the game going in dry, sunny conditions and it was Stirling who attacked first but their efforts came to nothing. Instead it was Montrose who struck first in the 4th minute when a long ball from the back found Johnston running hard into the Bino’s box only to be brought down with referee Fordyce pointing o the spot. GRAHAM WEBSTER duly scored from the penalty to put the Mo 1-0 up.

Stirling did their best to hit back and had chances from three free kicks within range but all were wasted by being hit too long, too high or straight at keeper Lennox. The Bino’s best chance came on 15 minutes when Steeves was rounded and Lennox faced the resultant effort which was blocked and hacked away – it was a chance wasted.

Montrose were having good spells of possession but Stirling maybe created more chances as the first half progressed hoping to get lucky with one of them. Lennox dealt with all that came beyond the impressive Aidan Quinn however and on the stroke of half-time Montrose almost scored again as a left wing cross was headed over close in under pressure and on the run.

It stayed at 1-0 with work still to do and unusually young Blair Lyons was having a quiet game.

No changes to start the second half as Stirling started brightly whilst Montrose seemed content to play man to man and probe for another opening. That frustrated Stirling and Roberts was yellow carded for trying too hard to win the ball. Lyons was starting to get more into it and he twice weaved his way down the left. On one such run he was upended but no penalty was awarded and on another his end pass was turned for a corner which came to nothing. Craig Johnston was also in the thick of it and full of running but a pull back from him had no takers to produce the final telling result.

On the hour Montrose made their one and only change with Whatley on for Antoniazzi to shore up midfield which also allowed Webster to move up into more of an attacking wing back role. The game seemed to drift in the middle of the second half with the Mo playing possession, probing football as the Binos tried to gain possession which on one occasion they did by intercepting a slack pass but Lennox saved the shot at point bank range when a goal looked likely.

Into the last 10 minutes with neither side dominating so Stirling made changes with Drydon on for Greenhorn, Grant on for Roberts and then Carey on for Heaver. Stirling again hit a free kick high and wide, Montrose failed to capitalise on two corners but other than that there was little to trouble either keeper in the closing stages. The last piece of action saw Lyons break clear only to be halted by the final whistle with Montrose winning 1-0. Not a classic game but a win’s a win and several Mo players gained valuable pitch time with centre back Quinn the pick of them on the day.

Report by Steve Doyle

Team Lineups & Stats

SPFL Trust Trophy
Second Round

Saturday 4th September 2021

21	Aaron Lennox	1	Callum Law
7	Graham Webster	2	Will Greenhorn (s80)
3	Andrew Steeves	3	James Creaney
17	Aidan Quinn	4	Adam Cummins
19	Liam Callaghan	5	Kyle Banner (c)
22	Craig Brown	6	Marc Laird
8	Paul Watson (c)	7	Kieran Moore
6	Terry Masson	8	Kurtis Roberts (s81)
11	Blair Lyons	9	Dylan Nguene Bikey
16	Craig Johnston	10	Sean Heaver (s86)
12	Chris Antoniazzi (s61)	11	Daniel Scally
15	Mark Whatley (s61)	17	Blair Currie
5	Iain Campbell	12	Rob Drydon (s80)
2	Aidan McKelvie	14	Ray Grant (s81)
10	Danny Belford	15	Sandy Carey (s86)
14	Kaden Houghton	16	Kevin Rutkiewicz
18	Lucas Smith
20	Liam Baillie
1	Allan Fleming

Referee:
Chris Fordyce

Assistant Referees:
Gordon Crawford, Liam Duncan

Goalscorers:
Montrose - Graham Webster (4pen)

Yellow Cards:
Stirling Albion - Kurtis Roberts (48)

Red Cards:
None

Attendance:
491