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Stranraer 2 Stenhousemuir 1

Moore double

By Ben Allen
November 9 2002
Stranraer's Michael Moore scores twice early in the first half to lead the Blues to a victory over Stenhousemuir. The other highlight of the match was Billy McLaren being sent-off after a heated argument with the Stenny boss, John McVeigh.

STRANRAER	2- 1	STENHOUSEMUIR
Moore (17, 27)		Graham (42)

Stenhousemuir took the game to Stranraer early on with David Graham playing a neat through-pass, to Brian Crawford who came running in. However, he was unable to make contact with the ball.

Stranraer nearly carved up a great opening themselves. A Stevie Aitken through-ball found Ian Harty, and his delicate chip from the edge of the area was excellently saved by Graeme Smith.

From the resulting corner which was taken by Aitken, Michael Moore rose above everyone to head the ball past Smith.

Stenny came right back at Stranraer. A Steven McCormick shot on the turn just curled away from John Hillcoat's far post.

Stenhousemuir mounted more pressure at this point of the match. A corner was swung in and it was met by Robert Coulter who had a free header could only direct the ball towards Hillcoat in which he saved at a comfortable height and was easily saved.

Stranraer went straight down the other end of the park and scored. A neat and perfectly weighted pass to Moore and from 12 yards he made no mistake by placing the ball high into the net. This was made easier by the slip of Robert Coulter.

Even after the second goal, Stenny wouldn't lie down. David Graham's shot from the edge of the area was straight at Hillcoat and caused him no problems what so ever.

Stenny's danger man David Graham halved their team's deficit. A good run and shot from the right hand side left John Hillcoat no chance with this effort just before half time.

Stenny started where they finished the first half. A powerful shot from 30 yards by their captain Steven Hamilton was very well saved by John Hillcoat at the second attempt.

Again, Hillcoat came to Stranraer's rescue. David Graham shot was blocked by Hillcoat and in which it went behind for a corner. Stranraer were under extreme pressure but an Aitken hoof up the park found Harty who crossed for Jenkins and he was inches away of restoring their two goal lead.

Stenny just kept coming back. John Hillcoat had to make a double save from David Graham and then he had to smother the ball at the feet of the advancing striker Steven McCormick.

Again, Robert Coulter wasted another equalising chance. He had a free header in which he could only direct towards Hillcoat.

Ian Harty nearly put the game out of Stenny's reach when he unleashed a thunderbolt of a shot which Graeme Smith did very well to keep it out of the net.

In summary, This game was played at a fantastic pace and tempo. Michael Moore took both his goals well. This game was comical with the Stenny manager raging at his team for just about the whole 90 minutes. Billy McLaren was sent to the stand for the last few minutes of the game for comments made to John McVeigh. Defence still a bit dodgy though.

Stranraer MOM: John Hillcoat - he deservedly got my choice as MOM because he made a number of fine saves and blocks and he also kept Stranraer in the game and the points.

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