Montrose 0 v 2 Albion Rovers

Pic d courtesy and © "Tee Kasule"
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Attendance : 307

Scorers ~ Albion Rovers : Chisholm (71, 78).

Albion Rovers bizarre record of being unbeaten away from home in the league since November continued at Links Park, Montrose. An injury to substitute Tommy Franch during warm-up brought Andrew Selkirk onto the bench in his stead. Montrose had their own selection problems as none of their strikers were available due to suspension and injury.

Some brief activity by Montrose in the opening skirmishes was followed by a Steven Noble corner being headed over by Graham McGhee. Lee Sichi impressed by jinking about on the edge of the homesters box but his weak shot didn't unduly trouble 'keeper Reid.

Euan (son of Gable Endies boss Henry) Hall was next up but he only succeeded in launching the ball high over Jamie Ewings goal. Then Kevin Webster took a free-kick from the edge of the box which went across the Rovers goal which Greig Henslee, who was to become a thorn in Rovers side put past the post.

Henslee again missed the target following a period of Montrose possession in and around Rovers box, he was on hand yet again when he took time to judge a shot from 23 yards but lifted the ball just over the bar. A long ball upfield by Montrose reached.............you guessed it Henslee but once more the shot was poor.

The half drew to a close with a strong 30 yarder by Fotheringham which had a foot too much elevation to trouble Ewings.

Half-Time

The second period started with a bang when Fraser worked a "one-two" with Henslee which resulted in the latter forcing Ewings to save although this gave Montrose a corner in the process.

Rovers hit back when Steven Noble put in a cross onto the head of Craig Young within the Montrose box, unfortunately the ball was wide of the target. Still on the offensive Sichi and young combined to give Scott Friel the opportunity to shoot from the edge of the box, this too was wide.

Gordon Lennon once again showed his class when he dispossessed an intruder of the ball inside Rovers box, preventing what seemed like a decent scoring opportunity. On the attack again Henslee saw his shot rebound off Ewings and drop to Kerrigan but Ewings smothered the ball which had in the meantime been adjudged offside.  

Lee Sichi set off upfield on the near wing and reached the near post and with support waiting in the centre he elected to fire at goal instead of cross, the ball went straight to Reid.

In 67 minutes Henslee had the ball in the Rovers net but referee Hunter had blown for offside. 4 minutes later after Hall had thrown on a couple of substitutes Rovers grabbed the lead. Sichi passed to Iain Chisholm who slid the ball low across the Montrose goal and into their net. This was immediately followed by the sort of player celebrations usually seen at world cups!

Andy Cargill had a shot blocked and fellow substitute Calum Watson picked it up only to fire wildly high and wide. Scott Friel  flighted in a nice cross from close to the corner which Sichi got his head to - the least said about the spherical objects destination thereafter the better.

A poor shot by Cargill for Montrose preceded Rovers second goal when Chisholm connected with a Noble cross prompting a large chunk of the home fans to leave 12 minutes early.

Martin Bonnar lifted the ball over the Gabble Endies defence to Young who proved to be in an offside position as he failed to successfully chip the 'keeper in any case. What could well be the miss of the season happened with 5 minutes remaining when Fotheringham nipped in to miss an open goal from a few yards out.

Montrose looked dangerous in the dying moments of the match but couldn't score.

Mr. Hunter had no cause to take any names during the 90 minutes.

Summary

Once again Rovers were up against it for chunks of the game but never let their heads go down and kept plugging away. They face another stiff test next Saturday when Stenhousemuir, managed by and having several ex-Rovers players in their squad come visiting!

Montrose : Reid, Donachie,  Smith, McKenzie, Stephen, Kerrigan, Webster, Fotheringham, Fraser (Watson 70), Hall (Cargill 70), Henslee. Subs Not Used : Doyle, Dodds, Butters.

Albion Rovers : Ewings, Lennox, Noble (Bonnar 78), O'Neil, Lennon, McGhee, Sichi (Selkirk 89), Friel, Chisholm, Young (Wilson 84), Donnelly. Subs Not Used : Houston, Creer.

Referee : Andy Hunter 

Man of the Match - Iain Chisholm

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