Albion Rovers 1 v 1 Gretna 
Division 3
8th March 2003
Albion Rovers 1 v 1 Gretna
Division 3
8th March 2003
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Attendance : 327
Scorers ~ Gretna : Hore (27). Albion Rovers : Lumsden (74).
Even at the peak of her powers, Agatha Christie couldn’t have written any mystery to compare with the puzzle of how Rovers didn’t win this one! They did score one excellent goal to gain the solitary point which might yet be extremely valuable in the push for promotion, but the chances which went a-begging were close to double figures.
A clearly disappointed but philosophical Peter Hetherston said that after the first few tries had missed, he and his trackside team were convinced that it was going to be "one of those days", and so it proved, as the match had something of an explosive ending.
Rovers made only one change to the team which had comprehensively disposed of Montrose in midweek, John Bradford finding a place in the starting eleven at the expense of Iain Diack.
In the sixth minute Mark Yardley’s header from a Jered Stirling cross smacked off the face of the crossbar. A couple of inches lower and the whole course of the match might have been altered. Two minutes later, Rovers appeared to have a strong claim for a penalty-kick when Kevin McAllister’s little chip seemed to come off a Gretna arm. However, referee Dougie Smith - a man destined to have a very poor game - ignored the claim. In the 14th minute, Bradford was sent clear of the visiting defence and tried to round David Mathieson in the Gretna goal. The move failed, Mathieson blocked the ball and the chance had gone. It was a bad miss.
Rovers were well on top at this stage and in the 20th minute Yardley found McAllister in space but as the wee man was set to pull the trigger, defender Gavin Skelton got a foot in and the ball went wide. Six minutes further into the match, Bradford again had a glaring miss, his header from a Stirling cross finishing well wide of goal. Within seconds, this miss took on even greater proportions as Gretna surged downfield and scored. A defensive slip left John Hore on his own and although Shearer managed to touch the ball, he couldn’t stop it and it nestled into the corner of the net. Gretna couldn’t believe their luck. Hardly in the game, virtually one attack and they’re in the lead! A couple of minutes later, Todd Lumsden received the first yellow card of the day.
Then Shearer, inactive for spells, showed his class by pulling off a magnificent close-range save from Mark Dobie, and as the interval approached, Lumsden and Stirling both saw good efforts skim past a post. Jim Mercer saw yellow for hand-ball seconds before the whistle.
Rovers came out for the second half with all guns blazing and a piece of McAllister genius left Silvestro with a chance, but his shot went high over. Stirling - having a fine game for Rovers - sent over another couple of enticing crosses which came to nothing. The lads in red and yellow piled forward in numbers and on more than one occasion looked certain to score - but didn’t. Gretna’s Martin Bell was booked for dissent before McAllister, having done his shift, was replaced by Diack. One minute after the visitors had taken off Keith Knox for Stephen Skinner, the long-awaited equalised finally arrived. Of course, Stirling was involved, and when his corner kick was edged out to the waiting Lumsden, the midfielder’s shot fairly screamed into the net. Joy was unconfined, and we thought the winner was bound to come. Indeed, in 78 minutes, we all though it had when the ball ended up in the net. Mr Smith, however, disallowed it and stopped play to award Rovers a free kick about 27 yards out. Playing advantage is apparently not now allowed! With six minutes left, Skinner’s shot was well turned round a post by Shearer.
There were 90 minutes on the clock when Peter Cormack and Hore indulged in a little skirmish, with the visitor seeming to take exception to the defender’s tackle. Both were booked for their involvement. Even then, there was time for another little fracas, with assistant manager Jock McStay putting in his tuppenceworth and substitute Jim Dick being cautioned for some inappropriate remarks to the stand-side assistant referee. The odd thing about this was that Dick was still on the bench!
Although the result was by no means a fatal blow to Rovers’ promotion aspirations, it certainly wasn’t a confidence-booster. "We’re still in the hunt", said the boss "and the other clubs will also drop points before the end of the season. Following our recent good results, expectations were higher - and should have been fulfilled."
In a change from recent times, this time there were not too many contenders for the Man of the Match nomination, so it goes to the one man whose excellent contribution should have led to more success on the scoring front, Jered Stirling.
Albion Rovers : Shearer, McCaig, Stirling, Smith, Cormack, Lumsden, McAllister (Diack 66) Silvestro, Yardley, Bradford, Mercer. Unused Subs : Paterson, Dick, McLean, Fahey.
Gretna : Mathieson, Bell, Skelton, Irons, McQuilter, Cleeland, Knox (Skinner 73), Galloway, Dobie, Hore, McGuffie. Unused Subs : Fairbairn, Ormiston, May, Sunmmersgill.
Referee : D Smith
Man of the Match : Jered Stirling
