Montrose 1 v 0 Albion Rovers

Attendance : 324

Scorers ~ Montrose : Pope (14).

It was unlucky 13 for Rovers fans in the season finale in Angus. The season ended at a dreech Links Park in a 13th consecutive match without a win for Rovers who ended with 10 men as 'keeper Jamie Ewings went off for very avoidable offences.

After a quiet start Hugh Davidson saw his shot rebound off the posterior of Michael McGowan and out for an unproductive corner. Next, Montrose went ahead when Gordon Pope put the ball between the legs of Ewings after Davidson had headed down a Kevin Bradley corner.

Shortly afterwards a Ciaran Donnelly ball went a couple of feet over the homesters bar. Another move saw Bobby Barr advance on the far wing, cut in have his ball put round the post by the 'keeper.

A through ball to Ian Harty saw the striker beat a defender only for his attempt to be smothered by 'keeper Tony Bullock. A couple of minutes later Harty was on the prowl once more when he side-stepped his marker and hit a low shot which was saved.

Another Harty run ended when after making space to shoot Bullock had no problem mopping up the ball. Next, a one - two between Harty and Callan Adam saw the former fire the ball off the chest of the 'keeper.

The last action of the half came when Craig O'Reilly had a 25 yarder saved by Ewings.

Half-Time

A delicately placed foot from Robert Walker dispossessed Daryl Nicol who was in a promising position. Ewings required treatment after saving in his area, then a couple of minutes later dived to stop another attempt by Nicol. Steven McKeown used some fancy footwork to take the ball from another attacker.

A quality Adam curler brought out a decent stop from Bullock before play switched ends and Paul Stewart had a go that Ewings tipped onto his bar and then to safety. Chris Hegarty blocked a Barr drive. A reshuffle by Paul Martin saw Marc Pollock replace Ian Harty and Danny Ferry go off for Brendan Crozier to come on.

A deflected Barr ball went past for a corner. Sean Fleming, playing his last game for Rovers before joining Montrose was booked for a foul outside Rovers box, Ewings was incensed and ran out to remonstrate with the official and was also yellow carded.

Adam was gifted the ball eight yards from the Gable Endies goal but failed to connect and the chance to equalise was gone. In 84 minutes, less than 10 minutes after being booked Ewings received another yellow and of course a red for a foul on Kevin Bradley just outside the Rovers box.

Substitute Crozier who'd been on for just 10 minutes made way for David Scott to take over between the sticks. Bradley took the resultant free-kick but only succeeded in blasting it high over the bar.

Barr shooting too high and Adam hitting a free-kick to the home 'keeper ended the game and the season.

Summary

Although they had plenty of attempts Rovers seemed destined not to score from the outset. Several players will have played their last for Paul Martin in a season which until the end of February promised much but delivered only eighth place. 

Montrose : Bullock, Hegarty, Sinclair, Davidson, Pope, Crighton, Bradley, Milligan (Stewart 32),O'Reilly (Leyden 63), Nicol (Maitland 70) Black, . Subs Not Used : Tweed, Kelly.

Albion Rovers : Ewings, Reid, Fleming, McKeown, Walker, McGowan, Ferry (Crozier 74, Scott 84), Donnelly, Harty (Pollock 73), Barr, Adam. Subs Not Used : McGoldrick, Andreoni.

Referee : Colin Brown

Man of the Match : Ian Harty

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