Match report

For the second time this season, Arbroath would leave Ochilview with nothing as second half goals from Blair Alston and Ross Taylor saw Stenhousemuir move joint top of the League One table.

Following the impressive victory in Dumfries last week, Arbroath named an unchanged side to face Stenhousemuir and made a bright start, with both Aaron Steele and Andy Winter passing up good opportunities to put the Lichties ahead inside the opening ten minutes.

Arbroath looked strong at the back but clever link up play between Euan O’Reilly and Blair Alston just shy of the half hour mark presented Stenny with a good chance, which the latter saw deflected behind.

The following corner caused havoc in the area with the ball eventually being cleared as far as Kinlay Bilham, whose wayward shot flew high over the bar.

That lack of action continued beyond the break, not helped by an injury to referee Colin Steven, who had to be replaced by fourth official, Daniel Graves, within ten minutes of the restart.

It would be Arbroath who again had the first chance of the second half, with Stewart once more proving a danger to the home defence, his cutback finding Ali Spalding who fired the ball out of play, albeit thanks to a slight bobble.

In a similar style to the first half, both sides began to cancel each other out with very little being created in the middle of the second period, but the deadlock would be broken 13 minutes from time as Stenhousemuir drew first blood. A cross from the right wasn’t dealt with by former Stenny loanee Steele, allowing Alston to force the ball home from close range.

The dangerous O’Reilly progressed well down the right before cutting the ball across for Ross Taylor as the hosts looked for the killer second goal, but the attacker couldn’t find the target with his effort.

Nine minutes of stoppage time were added thanks mainly to the referee’s earlier injury, with the home side looking the more likely to find a second goal, Gregor Buchanan being denied by a good Aidan McAdams save, before Corey O’Donnell fired the rebound over. In the seventh minute of additional time though, they did make it two, Arbroath failed to learn their lesson as Buchanan again won a header, this time finding Taylor to nod home at the back post, as Stenhousemuir leapfrogged the Lichties in the table.