By Graham
August 19 2006

Determined to show that their was no hangover from last Saturday's horror chow at Ochelview Montrose started sluggish and really should of been a couple of goals down at half time. At the end of the 90 minutes though Montrose were comfortable winners with a lot more left in the tank.
Montrose lined up with Andy Reid in goals, Tawse at right back, McLeod & Higgins in the centre & Chippy Fraser at left back. In Midfield were Cumming on the right wing, Henslee & Davidson through the middle & Napier out on the left. Kerrigan & Michie led the line.

Montrose started sluggish and were lucky not to go behind in the 2nd minute when Bobby Linn skinned the defence but couldn't find a final touch. A minute later Napier went on a mazy run but couldn't find the final ball for the strikers & advancing midfield in the box.

In the early part of the game Bavidge of Peterhead was causing all sorts of problems for Montrose. A Cumming's corner in the 10th minute found Kerrigan who knocked it down and Michie failed to connect. Napier was beinning to be a problem for Petehead and in the 14th minute after a good run he crossed with the outside of his boot and Henslee didn't make a good connection and the ball went out for a goal kick. After that bit of pressure from Montrose, Peterhead looked to turn the screw. Former player Graeme Sharp was causing constant pressure with his speed doen the wing and a combination of poor finishing and good defending saw the game at a stalemate. Kerrigan was proving a problem for the Peterhead defence with his knockdowns alas no players could take advantage.

Who ever gave the team talk at half time seemed to say the right thing as Montrose emerged a changed team in the 2nd period. After a Peterhead corner that came to nothing Montrose started to string passes together and looked a good deal dangerous going forward than they had done in the previous 45 minutes.

The break through came in the 52nd minute when some silky inter play between Michie & Kerrgian saw the latter flick it on for the on rushing Henslee to round Mathers and slide the ball home. Montrose could smell blood now and went all out for a second. Some persistence from Michie saw a good cross that was scrambled for a corner, then minutes later another Michie cross saw Henslee winning the header and the ball being cleared for another corner.

The 56th minute saw the 2nd goal and it couldn't of been simpler, Reid cleared the ball long, Kerrigan out jumped the defence to knock it on & Michie finally got on the end of it and lobbed it over Mather's and Montrose were two up.

A minute later Peterhead were looking devoid of ideas and a long range effort was easily saved by Reid. In the 65th minute Higgins was taken off & Adams brought on, Tawse, who was having a great game, moved into the centre of defence. Shortly after Davidson went on a run down the right wing and his low cross had no takers. Peterhead began to comeback into the game but Tawse & Mcleod dealt with everything beaing thrown at them. Tawse in particular who's marker got around him only to find the Montrose defender with a last gasp tackle to prevent the shot going in on goal.

Napier was replaced by Andy Rodgers in the 75th minute, Kerrigan dropped back to midfield. 5 minutes after coming on Rodgers jinked his way to the bye line and had a decent effort saved by Mathers. Michie came off in the 84th minute for Watson by which time Montrose were well in control of the game.

Every montrose player deserved credit for the performance after Saturdays 5-0 humping away but special mentions go to Michie, once he gets his match sharpness back will cause defences problems all season, Kerrigan, wore the captains armband with pride and worked his socks off. Man of the match though for me was Chris Tawse, he looked solid through out and started to show why Woleki rates this young guy so highly.