Stenhousemuir -vs- Annan Athletic (Saturday 31 August 2024)

[Francesc Fabregas]

All roads lead to Saturday afternoon and all roads lead to Ochilview where Stenhousemuir take on Annan Athletic. Both sides have started the season relatively well, with two wins apiece, and an intriguing contest awaits. Despite these promising results, Stenny and Annan have been tipped to struggle this season, and a victory either way could have a big bearing on how the rest of the campaign pans out. It's a game I'm looking forward to, that's for sure!

Annan appear to have responded well since Peter Murphy departed the club for Queen of the South, taking several key players with him. They've kept hold of some terrific performers like Aidan Smith and Tommy Goss and recruited well in Jamie Smith, Malik Zaid and Max Kilsby, while player/manager Wullie Gibson is arguably the most technically gifted footballer in the division. They seem a little soft in the middle of the park, however, and this is an area where I believe we can win the match. Mikey Anderson and Nat Wedderburn were both outstanding in the second half against Cove Rangers, dominating their opponents and keeping Stenhousemuir on the front foot. Ross Taylor had his best game for the club on Saturday, while Blair Alston, still feeling his way into things, is looking better.

The only real dilemma facing Gary Naysmith is who to start up front after Corey O'Donnell's shoulder injury. Matty Yates or Matty Aitken? My preference would be for Yates, whose movement and ability on the ball could drag Tam Muir out of position and free up space for others to exploit, but I'm not sure if it would be Naysmith's, as the player has barely featured in our last two outings. I wonder if something has happened between them. Yates gives us more variation than Aitken but I'd anticipate that both will feature at some point.

Other than that, everything else will more or less be what we saw last time out:

- Matty Yates -

- Ross Taylor - Blair Alston - Euan O'Reilly -

- Mikey Anderson - Nat Wedderburn -

- Kinlay Bilham - Kyle Banner - Gregor Buchanan - Ross Meechan -

- Darren Jamieson -

I fancy us to build on last weekend and get the three points. I'll see you all there!

[Ataboy]

I fancy us to win the midfield battle and let the wingers get at them . Interesting choice through the middle and I would have Yates for this one . 
Need to be strong at set pieces with Goss being the obvious threat . 

2.0 Stenny for me as we look to build on our home form . 

[Francesc Fabregas]

Tommy Goss has scored four goals in the last three meetings between the sides. We simply have to stop him.

[warriors21]

Well that was an enjoyable afternoon.

Our first goal was a good ball from Ross Taylor on top of the Annan right back, who slipped and Kinlay pounced and found the bottom corner, although Aitken really should’ve opened the scoring earlier when he rounded the keeper.

We made it 2-0 from a long ball by Buchanan catching the Annan back line out and Mikey Anderson lobbing it over Jamie Smith.

Both Annan penalties were the correct decision. The first one struck an arm/hand although I’m not sure who’s, and Ross Taylor picked up a booking for dissent. A nice finish from Aidan Smith right down the middle made it 2-1.

Annan came into the game more, and the second penalty came from Buchanan barging into the back of an Annan player. It was another decent penalty from Smith, but DJ pulled off a fantastic save to his bottom right. I fear that had we went in level at half time, Annan would’ve been galvanised in the second half the same way we were last week.

Alston popped up with a 7 minute hat trick in the second half, his second goal being the pick of the bunch, and by then the contest was over and the game very flat.

We were solid all over the park today and Naysmith once again got our tactics spot on. The Annan back line were dog shit, and we set our press to allow them to have the ball, then we pressed excellently and forced them into many mistakes.

Anderson was the best player on the park, but kudos to Bilham, Taylor, DJ, Meechan and O’Reilly who were excellent through.

Scoring 5 was lovely, but we also had a number of other chances, and had this been 7 or 8 I don’t think there’d have been many complaints. From memory, Aitken rounded the keeper at 0-0 and really should’ve scored; Taylor broke from his own half after an Annan corner and was only stopped from an excellent recovering tackle; and on at least 3 occasions we picked a player out around the penalty spot from wide areas, with Aitken, O’Reilly and Alston not finding the target.

I expected more from Annan today, but with Tommy Goss out they showed very little threat or guile, and their defence were awful.

We’ve certainly still got a long way to go but 9 points from 15 is a solid start to life back in League 1 and I’m pleased with how things are going.

 

ETA - there was an incident that happened in the terracing near the end of the game that required medical treatment, so I do hope that everyone involved is okay.

Edited August 31 by warriors21

[Dundee Hibernian]

Good match to watch, helped by the referee's dreadful officiating. Annan looked well in it until the rapid Alston hat trick, with Darren Jamieson pulling off a number of saves, and as @warriors21 says above his save was a huge knock to the confidence of the away side.

It is encouraging to see so many kids wearing Stenhousemuir football jerseys, and some not so young fans in maroon and/or white too.

Also spotting the earliest example of a senior football player wearing tights (it's still August) was a highlight. It was over 20 degrees C, but Hibs loanee Malik Zaid must have been feeling it a bit chilly.

Edited August 31 by Dundee Hibernian

[Nigel Blackwell]

Great entertaining this afternoon. Not many teams will score 5 this season, far less a team with a mis-firing centre forward. 

I thought Annan were the better team in the 1st half and had they converted their 2nd penalty I don't think we could have complained going in at half time All square. As it happened Jamieson made a fantastic save and it really was the point that the match turned in our favour. 

Alston scored two really composed goals. They really were excellent finishes. And his penalty for the hat trick was unstoppable. 

Taylor and O'Reilly tormented the annan right back (Barnes?) and on a hatful of occasions their tantalising crosses were begging to be converted, but we just don't have a clinical, penalty box striker. 

Happy days, and 9 points on the board already is a great return from 5 games. 

[Am Featha Taigh Nan Clach]

In the first half, Annan played some excellent football and for a long spell were the better team. When the second penalty was given, my heart sank and I could see how the afternoon was going to pan out. How wrong I was.

In the second half, our wingers absolutely destroyed the full backs. Watching O'Reilly and Taylor at their best is a genuine pleasure. Alston brings that bit of composure in key areas without being some obvious cut above in general play.

We'll have bad days and suffer plenty of defeats but I do now feel we have enough spark and extra dimension when things are going reasonably well we'll to pick up the 12 wins that would guarentee safety.

Finally, there was a medical issue with an Annan fan in the terrace at the end. I hope they're o.k.

[Neilly]

The Back 2 Back Champions go piling on.

Special group.

[Old Fashioned Stramash]

Tremendous display today.

Like others have said, I thought Annan would come out and dominate the second half after playing some good football and getting themselves a goal back. However, we showed determination and composure, took our chances very well indeed.

Taylor, Alston and O'Reilly were on form but another fantastic showing from Mikey Anderson. He's improving his co-ordination on the park and the pass choice and timing through the lines is a joy to watch. Hard to believe how well he has developed from a player that was just in to break up play and win his tackles, to now running the centre of the park. Undroppable. Credit to Naysmith and his staff. 

Alston adds that extra level to our squad, composure and influence. His work off the ball is decent just finds the wee pockets of space to get the play moving or to have a shot whilst also taking away space for defenders to play out. With Alston doing that, it gave Taylor and O'Reilly more freedom. Hard day for the Annan defence. 

DJ was tremendous, saves like that boost the confidence of the defenders and he showed today why many think he's the best in the division. 

[Francesc Fabregas]

That was a thoroughly delightful game of football this afternoon but it could have turned out very differently if Darren Jamieson had not saved Aidan Smith's second penalty. Having scored from the spot minutes previously, Annan Athletic had Stenhousemuir spooked and an equaliser could have turned the match irrevocably in their favour. The goalkeeper, however, read Smith's intentions, swatted the ball away, and the home side took their lead into the interval. And then it was party time.

On the whole, this was a strong performance from the Warriors, pockmarked by a 15-minute spell when Annan were dangerous, and there was plenty to like. Jamieson's intervention defined the game and it says a lot that the goalkeeper won the coveted Wee Bar Man of the Match award ahead of a hat-trick scorer, but here we are. Blair Alston had flitted in and out of proceedings until he cleverly controlled Ross Meechan's low cross and crashed it into the net from close range. From that point on, he sparked into life. His second, four minutes later, saw him juggle the ball inside the box, shift the ball into space, and then finish low. Did he use his hand to control it? I don't care. His third came from a penalty moments later. Then he left the pitch to a standing ovation. A seven-minute hat-trick, maybe the quickest in the club's history, and the first since Colin McMenamin's against Ayr United in 2014.

I thought Mikey Anderson was the best player on the park, again, and his drive and thrust allowed us to take control and get the better of Paul McGowan and Wullie Gibson in midfield. His goal came through sheer endeavour, pressuring Max Kilby into losing his ball before lifting it over Jamie Smith. I've said before that if he could add goals to his game he would be the perfect midfielder and he's got four for the season already; he'd netted two in his previous three years at the club. I believe he is the best part-time player in the country at the moment and I would like him to extend his stay with Stenhousemuir well into the future. His rise from a timid jobber to an outstanding powerhouse has been remarkable and I'm very proud of him.

Elsewhere, Meechan and Kinlay Bilham played well at full-back (and it was great to see the latter score his first goal for the club), Kyle Jacobs looked good when introduced, and Ross Taylor and Euan O'Reilly were terrific out wide. Taylor's last two performances have been thrilling and if he had a little bit more luck in front of goal, he could have scored and set up a couple today. O'Reilly, meanwhile, is getting back to his best after a slow start to the campaign. Our centre-backs performed chaotically at times and sometimes struggled with players backing into them and balls into the box, while Matty Aitken put himself about a bit but really should have opened the scoring when put through on Smith. Aitken seems to be lacking in confidence at the moment and I'd like to see Matty Yates selected ahead of him for the time being.

Annan really looked the part when they came back into the match midway through the first half, showing some verve and precision with the ball, and in Gibson, McGowan and Josh Todd they have some good midfielders who can dominate a game, but they lacked the legs to maintain it for any great length of time (and it doesn't help when your defence completely falls apart too). They badly missed Tommy Goss today - Luca Ross and Harrison Wood ran about a lot and got stuck in but they lack Goss' muscle and know-how, and the whole team suffered as a result.

We've made a very strong start to the campaign. Tougher challenges will await but, for the time being, let's enjoy this! What a team. What a club!

[Hard Graft]

Really enjoyable game of football yesterday with both teams trying to play the ball on the ground.

Aitken is playing without a great deal of confidence, missed 2 really good chances but you feel if he gets a couple then his game could soar. Mikey Anderson continues to impress and took his goal well pressuring the defence into making a mistake. DJ's penalty safe was probably the turning point of the game, had they scored then they were on a high and it could easily have went their way. However we stuck in and got a great result and could easily have had another couple.

9 points at home is a great start and hopefully we can keep the momentum going. Pity we have a diddy cup game next week instead of a league game.

It is a breath of fresh air listening to Gary's after match analysis and comments after having to suffer the crap that Swift used to come away with on a weekly basis.

Onwards and upwards.

[Old Fashioned Stramash]

After displays like this, the team performance and game management Gary Naysmith and his staff must be catching the eyes of higher level clubs. With the inevitable managerial sackings, I just hope we can keep Naysmith. 

The work he and his staff have done with this club is remarkable. The improvement and determination he gets out of the players; even with more experienced guys like Wedderburn and Meechs, is tremendous. 

As you say FF, what a club! 

Love seeing so many in maroon and the amount of merchandise available too. Think I've bought everything . 

Mon the Warriors. 

[Nigel Blackwell]

Not just the manager, but If Anderson can keep his performances at this level, and now that he seems to have added goals to his repertoire, then there will be other clubs sniffing around him. Important question...how long is his contract?

[Am Featha Taigh Nan Clach]

8 minutes ago, Nigel Blackwell said:

Not just the manager, but If Anderson can keep his performances at this level, and now that he seems to have added goals to his repertoire, then there will be other clubs sniffing around him. Important question...how long is his contract?

End of the season.

[Francesc Fabregas]

Someone might need to correct me but I think the only players signed up until the end of next season are Darren Jamieson, Nicky Jamieson, Blair Alston and Corey O'Donnell. I'd be looking to get Mikey Anderson (as well as Ross Taylor, come to think of it) tied down until then too. He has developed into such a vital player for Stenhousemuir.

[EastonStewart]

You are right, I agree with you.