Scottish Cup: Fraserburgh 1-2 East Stirlingshire
By Grant Milne:East Stirlingshire managed to weather the north-east storm to scrape a narrow 2-1 win over 9 man Fraserburgh.
The game began in typically blustery conditions at Bellslea Park and the home side began the match with intent, almost taking the lead within the first 5 minutes. A clever reverse pass found it’s way to Scott Barbour with his back to goal, he managed to hold off his marker and lay the ball off to John Willox, however Grant Hay was on hand to block away Willox’s sclaffed effort.
Many a physical challenge was to be seen in the opening exchanges of this affair, but it was the Falkirk-based outfit which took the lead. It seemed a poor goal to lose from Fraserburgh’s perspective, as David Greenhill took the ball on a mazy run driving through the heart of the home defence before releasing a shot into the far corner which beat Paul Leask on its way to goal.
A potentially serious injury to Shire’s Richard Miller had marred the start of this game for the visitors however it wasn’t long before they doubled their advantage. Kevin Turner’s wind-assisted chip from outside of the area dipped over Leask at the last second finding its way into the top corner to give East Stirlingshire a healthy first-half advantage.
Changes had to be made for the home side in order for them to claw their way back into the affair, and Graham Johnston certainly did that reducing the deficit less than 5 minutes after his introduction as a substitute. A fantastic run down the right touchline by Marc Dickson led to an inside pass for Scott Barbour, and his spin-and-shot appeared to be a simple stop for Grant Hay in the ‘Shire goal, however he spilled the ball into the path of Johnston who finished into the open net, and game on it was at Bellslea.
Fraserburgh turned the screw once more but were unable to carve out any clear-cut opportunities in front of goal, instead frustratingly unable to convert from any of the quantity of set pieces which they mustered over the course of the afternoon, instead the closest they came was through a close-range effort by Johnny Chalmers, Barbour was again causing problems for the visitors and his ball into the 6-yard area caused the archetypal Scottish footballing stramash, under the ruck of feet the ball eventually fell to Chalmers but skewed his shot wide in what was a difficult chance for the youngster.
However the home side’s efforts were very much in vain as they seemed unable to force home an equaliser, Barbour forcing a decent stop out of Hay from the volley, and Mark Begg’s long-range drive landing just over Paul Leask’s bar.
But the moments of controversy were still to come, with Fraserburgh players seeing red twice in the space of less than two minutes. Firstly on 85 minutes, Graham Johnston was handed a second yellow for apparent simulation inside the East Stirlingshire penalty area, with the home fans feeling rather aggrieved that a spot kick was not instead awarded by referee Don Robertson, who had done little to endear himself to either set of supporters.
Then, Ryan Christie was involved in a fracas which saw him sent off, allegedly for violent conduct however it seemed unclear as to what events exactly unfolded. Two men short, it seemed inevitable that Shire would squeeze their way into the next round and they did just that with comfortable ease, the 9-man Highland League outfit unable to force a replay at Ochilview with what would have been a dramatic equaliser under controversial circumstances.
Fraserburgh: Leask, West, Christie, Hay, Dickson , Thomson, Cooper (Chalmers 58), Fowlie (Conway 75), Mark Cowie, Willox (Johnston 51), Barbour.
Unused Subs: Dunbar, Ryan Cowie
East Stirlingshire: Hay, Hume (Tart 83), Kelly, Miller (Gillespie 8), Jackson, Hunter, Begg, Quinn, Turner, Greenhill, Maxwell.
Unused Subs: Gordon, Glasgow, McGaughie.
Referee – Don Robertson
Attendance - 478
Many a physical challenge was to be seen in the opening exchanges of this affair, but it was the Falkirk-based outfit which took the lead. It seemed a poor goal to lose from Fraserburgh’s perspective, as David Greenhill took the ball on a mazy run driving through the heart of the home defence before releasing a shot into the far corner which beat Paul Leask on its way to goal.
A potentially serious injury to Shire’s Richard Miller had marred the start of this game for the visitors however it wasn’t long before they doubled their advantage. Kevin Turner’s wind-assisted chip from outside of the area dipped over Leask at the last second finding its way into the top corner to give East Stirlingshire a healthy first-half advantage.
Changes had to be made for the home side in order for them to claw their way back into the affair, and Graham Johnston certainly did that reducing the deficit less than 5 minutes after his introduction as a substitute. A fantastic run down the right touchline by Marc Dickson led to an inside pass for Scott Barbour, and his spin-and-shot appeared to be a simple stop for Grant Hay in the ‘Shire goal, however he spilled the ball into the path of Johnston who finished into the open net, and game on it was at Bellslea.
Fraserburgh turned the screw once more but were unable to carve out any clear-cut opportunities in front of goal, instead frustratingly unable to convert from any of the quantity of set pieces which they mustered over the course of the afternoon, instead the closest they came was through a close-range effort by Johnny Chalmers, Barbour was again causing problems for the visitors and his ball into the 6-yard area caused the archetypal Scottish footballing stramash, under the ruck of feet the ball eventually fell to Chalmers but skewed his shot wide in what was a difficult chance for the youngster.
However the home side’s efforts were very much in vain as they seemed unable to force home an equaliser, Barbour forcing a decent stop out of Hay from the volley, and Mark Begg’s long-range drive landing just over Paul Leask’s bar.
But the moments of controversy were still to come, with Fraserburgh players seeing red twice in the space of less than two minutes. Firstly on 85 minutes, Graham Johnston was handed a second yellow for apparent simulation inside the East Stirlingshire penalty area, with the home fans feeling rather aggrieved that a spot kick was not instead awarded by referee Don Robertson, who had done little to endear himself to either set of supporters.
Then, Ryan Christie was involved in a fracas which saw him sent off, allegedly for violent conduct however it seemed unclear as to what events exactly unfolded. Two men short, it seemed inevitable that Shire would squeeze their way into the next round and they did just that with comfortable ease, the 9-man Highland League outfit unable to force a replay at Ochilview with what would have been a dramatic equaliser under controversial circumstances.
Fraserburgh: Leask, West, Christie, Hay, Dickson , Thomson, Cooper (Chalmers 58), Fowlie (Conway 75), Mark Cowie, Willox (Johnston 51), Barbour.
Unused Subs: Dunbar, Ryan Cowie
East Stirlingshire: Hay, Hume (Tart 83), Kelly, Miller (Gillespie 8), Jackson, Hunter, Begg, Quinn, Turner, Greenhill, Maxwell.
Unused Subs: Gordon, Glasgow, McGaughie.
Referee – Don Robertson
Attendance - 478
Add comment
