By Gary McKenzie at Links Park
September 6 2004

Scottish Football League Division Three, Saturday 4 September 2004, Links Park, Montrose. MONTROSE 1 (Stirling OG (52)) ALBION ROVERS 1 (Connolly (28)). Montrose began this game full of confidence after last week's win at Elgin.

We certainly had the better of the opening exchanges without converting any chances.

Fahey saved from Wood then Sharp sent over a cross that was too near the Rovers keeper.

Rovers forced a corner after a poor clearance from Donachie then sent a free kick just over from 25 yards.

Sharp sent another cross into the arms of the keeper before a great move down the left saw Donachie fire over from inside the penalty area.

O'Reilly then beat the offside trap, Fahey did well to save and Smart failed to convert the rebound.

 

Rovers were coming back into it, spurred on by the Mo's lacl of success in front of goal. Man-mountain, Mark Yardley's header flew wide.

It was Rovers who opened the scoring after 28 minutes. Montrose failed to clear the lines and Connelly sent a curling shot in at Henky's bottom right corner.

Doyle was harshly booked on the half hour but Hanky saved the free kick comfortably.

The match was being played at a fair old pace and the referee had to speak to Crunchie McAllister in the Rovers dugout for giving him pelters.

McManus was next to trouble the Mo defence but he shot over.

As half time approached, Hall sent a tempting ball over but O'Reilly sent it over the bar.

Montrose emerged from the tunnel a good 2 or 3 minutes after Rovers, and with Henry's words rining in their ears set about trying to save something from this game.

The equaliser was to come after 52 minutes, when Hall fired in a cross from the right and Rovers' Jered Stirling was the unlucky defender in a ruck of players who knocked the ball home.

The referee was having a nightmare, as is usual at Links Park, with fans scratching their heads at many decisions, but his worst mistake was yet to come.

Woody was looking dangerous fro the Mo and some sublime skill at the Rovers corner flag saw him put in a fine cross with no takers for the Mo.

Webster was sent on for O'Reilly after 64 minutes, but the next chance was to come at the Montrose end. With Hanky stranded after a challenge, Yardley somehow managed to shoot over the bar, to the delight of the home support.

Some of Montrose's defending was a bit dodgy and we gave away a corner from which Yardley brought out a great save from Hanky in 66 minutes.

Smarty then had a header at the other end that was tipped over by the Rovers stopper. The resultant corner saw Wood firing over.

Smarty was then felled in the box, but the referee gave the foul the other way.

We thought the three points were staying at Links Park when Sharp got on the end of a far post cross, but the referee blundered once more and chalked the goal off for offside.

Dodds replaced Greenhill on 77 minutes and Hall brought out a fine save by Fahey.

Watson replaced Sharp with minutes remaining, but apart from a Hall booking there was little further action.

This is a game that Montrose should have won, but there was no faulting the effort the team gave,

Teams

Montrose

Hankinson, Donachie, Greenhill, Stephen, Doyle, Sharp, Kerrigan, Smart, Hall, Wood, O'Reilly
Subs: Spink, Butter, Dodds, Watson, Webster

Albion Rovers

Fahey, Connolly, Black, McLaren, Stirling, McKenzie, Patrick, Silvestro, McCaul, Yardley, McManus.

Subs: Selkirk, Richardson, Wallace, Peat, Bradford

 

Links to Other Match Reports

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_1/3619744.stm
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=152429&cc=5739