Lichties Lose to Strong Stirling
Last updated : 07 September 2004 By Simon
Stirling easily beat an Arbroath team which had, yet again, a shocking display in defence and midfield. However the score could have been different after a great 10 minute spell in the 2nd half….
Arbroath lined up with Inglis in goal, L to R of Gavin Beith, Trialist (Michael Renwick), Jamie Bishop and Kevin McMullen. A midfield of Gavin Swankie, Stuart MacDonald, John Cusick and Greg Millar. Up-front were Alan Brazil and Duncan MacLean.
The first 10 minutes or so were all Stirling with their slick passing moves completely outdoing our shabby inefficient “moves” and they were all over us in every department on the field. After 5 mins of Stirling possession the 1st Stirling goal came. A great through ball to Stirling’s Martin Glancy and he stroked it past Neil Inglis and into the corner of the net.
Throughout the half the Arbroath defence resorted to silly little fouls resulting in bookings for Renwick and Cusick. The defence looked VERY shaky with Renwick the weakest link and shredded any confidence the other players around him in maroon shirts had. Stirling had numerous free kicks and build up play but just couldn’t get a second goal. Finally after 25 mins or so Arbroath started to attack a little with Millar and MacLean making some good runs resulting in crosses into the box but alas there was nobody on the end of them. Alan Brazil also came into play with some good footwork which ended up with him on the ground and George Rowe in the book.
With half time nearing Stirling got their 2nd. Some neat passing between Martin Glancy and Scott McLean resulted in a 1 on 1 situation in which Inglis was beaten again. Half time came soon after with no additional scoring. At Half Time, just the one subbie was made with Renwick coming off (hopefully never to be seen again!!) and Henslee coming on.
Two minutes into the 2nd half Stirling scored again. A simple one two between Devine and Glancy saw Devine score the third in another 1 on 1 situation. It was just after this that everything changed though. Just like last week the goal seemed to waken up the Lichties and a header from Alan Brazil was cleverly flicked on and in by Duncan McLean. Two minutes last it was 3-2 with Henslee scoring at the back post. Arbroath were now taking control and looked like they might score again with Millar taking the ball wide up the left and right flanks.
It actually looked for a bit like we were going to do it! Come back from 3 down, but no! A few minutes after ANOTHER George Rowe foul on Millar, Beith committed his 2nd foul of the game in taking down the Stirling winger with a slightly mistimed challenge. After the winger decided to crawl around on the deck in “agony” Rowbotham reached for Beith’s 2nd yellow and he was off. UTTER BULLSHIT! I cannot believe that Rowe stayed on the park for 90mins and Beith got sent off for 2 challenges. Needless to say this ruined the game and down to 10 men Arbroath struggled to do anything more and on 71 minutes a wonderful 30 yard shot from Devine flew into the net to make it 4-2 to Stirling. Game Over. A minute from time Stirling got a 5th with a good Scott McLean worked the ball well and scored with his left foot from 18 yards.
Soon after the referee blew and it was all over. After an awful 1st half performance with terrible defending (notably Renwick caused havoc for the rest of the defenders) and some none existent central midfielders, we did much better in the 2nd half. The introduction of Henslee made a big difference and with Cusick moved back into defence we looked a lot better at the back. Even though we lost 5-2, in my opinion there were amazingly some plus sides from today. Going forward we are far better than last season and will score a lot more goals. The reason we lost today was because of shit defending. When we get back Steven Rennie and Euan Donaldson, things will be a lot more tighter at the back. The midfield was shocking in the centre today with everything there being lost, Cusick especially was just a passenger. When we get John McGlashan back, and Kirk actually wakes up and starts with Henslee in the middle things WILL be a lot different.
