Stranraer started far the brighter team with passes flowing freely to the wide positions, Kevin Finlayson in particular involved a lot in the early stages. Paul Kerr and Michael Moore had already signalled their intentions to the Whitehill keeper that he could be in for a busy afternoon, with the home defence having to do well dealing with a string of early corners. It was no surprise when Stranraer took the lead on 5 minutes. Some neat footwork by Finlayson on the right, and a knock down from Sandy Hodge split the home defence in two. Kerr reacted first, raced onto the ball 25 yards out and with just the keeper to beat, cooley placed it past his right side and into the net from the edge of the area with two Whitehill defenders only helpless. A good confident finish from Paul Kerr.

Stranraer continued to push, and looked the better side, Kevin Gaughan looking comfortable in the air and supported by the excellent Stevie Aitken on the ground. A soft free kick for Whitehill (which left Alan Jenkins down !?) after 10 minutes was to provide an equaliser for the home team. Flighted in from their right from about 30 yards, the ball seemed to go over everyone, until Whitehill’s Bennett managed to get the faintest of touches to knock it past a stranded Hillcoat. A soft goal, which began from a soft free kick, and the game was level.

The score probably flattered the home side, and Stranraer started to play some real neat football, Stevie Aitken pulling the strings in midfield and Sandy Hodge causing some real problems up with Paul Kerr. A few good chances go astray, defenders making some good tackles and the keeper making some good solid saves, but Stranraer finally took the lead just after the half hour. Clever play from Aitken and Sharpe on the left, a through ball to Kerr who muscled himself past the Whitehill defence, and fire a low shot past the keeper from 15 yards.

No further incident, and Whitehill happy to get to the half only one adrift. The Blues started the second half much the same as they played through the first period. The back trio of Wingate, Wright and the excellent Gaughan dealt with everything the home side had to offer, and when called upon, Hillcoat had only bread and butter goalkeeping to deal with. As Whitehill pressed for the equaliser, gaps in midfield and at the back were inevitable, and Kerr missed a couple of good chances for his hat-trick. Sandy Hodge had the chance to cap a fine game with a cracking chance after good football on the left by Lee Sharpe, but his shot was straight at the keeper. Ian Harty replaced Paul Kerr and created chances all over the place as Whitehill kept pushing for the equaliser.

A corner on the left, with just over 10 minutes left, finished the contest. Flighted in by Aitken, Kevin Gaughan timed his run perfectly and met it full on to bullet a header into the roof of the net. Stranraer’s two best players on the day combining well to knock the stuffing out of the fighting Whitehill side. John Fallon replaced the hard working Sandy Hodge, Harry Curran came on for the last few minutes to replace Stevie Aitken and the result was never in any serious threat.

Whitehill did manage to scramble a second as the seconds (and light) faded away. An untidy goal that Hillcoat will be unhappy with, ending in a Ewart short from close range. The referee Eddie Mack signalled the end of the game almost straight from the kick-off and Stranraer were deserved winners of a potential banana skin of a tie.

Summary: The Blues deserved to win, and 3-2 suggests a closer game than it actually was. Credit to Whitehill though as they never gave up, but good performances from Gaughan, Aitken and Hodge was the difference between the two sides. Paul Kerr’s finishing was spot on when required, and Gucci’s goal to make it three probably swayed things for me if a Man of the Match was to be awarded. He was dominant in the air all day, rarely made a bad pass on the ground, timed his tackles well, defended well and scored for good measure.

Attendance: 482