Stenhousemuir3–1Inverness CT

Dumped at the foot of the Ochil's


The two sides that went the distance last season went toe to toe today at Ochilview. Both sides were undefeated in the League with the hosts having made the more prominent start which showed them at the top of the table ahead of kick-off. After last night's game, Dunfermline Athletic climb to fifth thanks to a Fife derby win over Raith Rovers who remain third at 3:00pm.

Marvin Bartley started with Oscar MacIntyre and Andy Shinnie on the bench as were Buchanan, O'Reilly, Aitken and Hodgkiss. They must have some starting XI to keep that lot on the bench! We were without the experienced David Wotherspoon who is still suffering from a calf injury. Scott Kellacher made a few changes with MacLeod, MacKinnon and Duncan dropping to the bench and defender Kerr Smith, Paul Allan and Morgan Bates all started. Hamzad Kargbo was missing again.

A Lewis O'Donnell strike was the difference between the sides in the first half. A flurry of goals just after the break with O'Donnell getting his second quickly followed by Liam Sole knocking in and Sam Young eventually getting a header on target left us with a mountain to climb. That mountain proved to be too high and we fell well short of the summit today. Meh!

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Inverness were first to threaten in the seventh minute when a looping Morgan Bates header was easily held by Darren Jamieson and a few minutes later the keeper was keeping Alfie Bavidge at bay as he gathered a ball into the box with the striker in attendance. The hosts responded and dangerous frontman Dale Carrick fired over from distance but it was the visitors that were having the better of the first quarter. Hmmmnnn, sounds familiar when we meet the Warriors. Paul Allan bounced a shot wide before we fell behind. Right on cue they opened the scoring through Lewis O'Donnell with a low shot after he burst into the box assisted by Carrick. Ross Munro had to look lively to deny Carrick a second for Stenny as he fired goalwards from outside the box again. With the niceties over, the hosts upped the pressure and Sam Young headed wide at the back post from a corner before O'Donnell went high and wide from a free kick. Ten minutes before the break we forced a hat-trick. Unfortunately it was a hat-trick of corners, something we really need to work on. Noa Boutin almost bagged an og as he cleared O'Donnell's effort away from goal. Paul Allan dollied a ball into the keepers arms and just before the break another back post header by Sam Young went wide.

HALF TIME: 1-0

Changes made at the break for the visitors but it was O'Donnell that doubled the lead within five minutes of the restart, drilling into the bottom corner from outside the box. No sooner was the game back underway than Liam Sole was knocking in an assist from substitute Ryan Duncan. Alas our optimism was quickly pulled from under our feet when Sam Young scored a third with another header. Stenny made three substitution on the hour and Euan O'Reilly fired wide with Alfie Bavidge doing likewise at the other end. The substitutions altered the dynamics of the game and little was created over the last half hour although Munro blocked an effort from Lewis Hodgkiss with less than ten minutes left. Another effort from O'Reilly was deflected wide as Stenny strolled to victory on a bad day at the office for the Caley Jags. We ended the game beleaguered and on the back foot defending a series of corners before the referee put us out of our misery and blew the final whistle.

FULL TIME: 3-1