Damage in the Box!: MONTROSE (Links Park)

After 13 days without a match and little prospect of much action south of the border (due to waterlogging as the snow thawed), it was a last minute decision to head north of the border. The frozen pitches of recent weeks still remained at some grounds in Scotland, and indeed there was little prospect of play at Stranraer's Stair Park, hence the fixture was reversed on Thursday. Montrose have a 3G pitch at their Links Park home, so the game would never be in doubt. It was a very early start for a 348 mile journey to Angus.

Links Park is a pretty basic, i'd say exposed, ground with a 1,300 seater stand on the half way line and a small covered terrace. On a cold, wet and windy day like today you are really open to the elements.

Montrose, as it stands, are the worst team in the Scottish League as they have yet to win a game this season and are rock bottom of the pile, 42nd out of 42. They currently have six points from six draws and, at the start of play, were 9 points adrift of second bottom Elgin City and 10 points adrift of third bottom Stranraer, who are todays opponents. Due to the adverse weather neither side had played since before Christmas, so both sides may have been a bit rusty.

Not a chance as both sides served up an absolutely fantastic goal fest of a match!!
(I'm led to believe Jeff Stelling was going mental on Soccer Saturday!)

Stranraer took the lead after just 3 minutes when Armand One tucked home a cross from the right. After 7 minutes Michael Moore was crudely hacked down in the box by John Maitland and he got up to fire home the resultant penalty. The homesters kept plugging away and took control of the game, playing some good football which belied their lowly position, however the chances they created rarely troubled David Mitchell in the Stranraer goal. They were eventually rewarded after 42 minutes when they got one back, A Chris Hegarty corner headed home by Maitland. Lo and behold they only went and repeated the trick and levellled right on Half Time, this time however it was Alan Campbell heading home the Hegarty corner. All square at the interval and it was Game On!

The Second half was end-to-end and both teams gave no quarter. The Gable Enders were the more dominant side, but The Blues (playing in red today) always looked a threat on the break. Montrose eventually went in front on 68 mins when Steven Nicholas was brought down in the box by Romuald Bouadji and Paul Tosh, on his 'proper' debut (he previously played as a triallist) scored the penalty kick. Montrose looked to have sealed their first win of the season just three minutes later when Tosh chased a long ball and lobbed it over the advancing Mitchell for what was assumed an unassailable 4-2 lead.

Stranraer got one back on 76 minutes when a mis-hit shot fell to Armand One three yards from goal and he bagged his second of the match. Both sides still created goal chances but it was Stranraer who levelled the game after 85 minutes when Scott Agnew fired home a stunning strike from 25 yards. The Blues piled forward in search of an unlikely winner and they only went and grabbbed it in the last minute, Bouadji rising highest to head home a Darren McGeough cross. Montrose did have a final chance to level in stoppage time, but Paul Tosh headed wide when it looked easier to score.

The score was harsh on Montrose, but their mistakes proved costly and when you score four at home and still lose it doesn't take a genius to work out why you are bottom. As I said earlier an absolutely fantastic game of football, it was just a shame Montrose's lowest crowd of the season (200) were here to witness the dramatic events but, on a personal level, the result made that long, long journey very worthwhile.