Arbroath slipped to another defeat on the road as Stenhousemuir extended their lead at the top of the Championship with victory at Ochilview.
Lewis O’Donnell found the top corner with a fantastic strike midway through the first half to secure a 1-0 victory for the Warriors as the Lichties made it three games without a win.
Charlie Dewar’s red card last weekend saw him suspended for this one while Thomas O’Brien picked up a knock that will see him sidelined for a few weeks, meaning a defensive reshuffle was required with Sean Mackie moving to centre back alongside Craig Watson.
Gavin Reilly, Kyle Magennis and Stuart Morrison also remain carrying small knocks that saw them just miss out on the matchday squad.
In truth, there wasn’t much to report in a first half devoid of much quality in Larbert as the two sides battled in a strong wind, struggling to really get to grips with things.
Brody Paterson was back in the starting line-up at left back and was a threat for Arbroath which he showed with a powerful run before fizzing a ball across goal that no one could turn home.
The hosts’ first real sight of goal saw them adamant that they should have been awarded a penalty when O’Donnell went down under pressure from Scott Stewart in the middle. Referee Kevin Clancy was having none of it and waved play on.
Stenhousemuir weren’t complaining just beyond the half hour though, with a moment of magic from O’Donnell opening the scoring. A free kick was cleared to the edge of the area where Ross Meechan’s powerful effort was deflected back to O’Donnell whose touch clipped the heel of Lewis Hodgkiss before sitting up perfectly for the former Dundee United man to strike a perfect dipping shot flying past Aidan McAdams.
Arbroath went in search of a quickfire equaliser and had an immediate chance through Stewart, but he couldn’t quite keep his header down from Mackie’s tantalising cross.
Stewart was a definite attacking threat for the away side and began to cause Stenny more problems after the break, finding Michael McKenna with a ball across goal that the midfielder couldn’t quite get under control.
Half-time substitute Andy Winter went close to levelling the scores when Stewart again drove into the box from the right before cutting back for Winter to fire goalwards, but his effort was brilliantly turned round the post by Darren Jamieson.
Things then began to turn scrappy with a number of fouls breaking up any real rhythm in the game, Mackie, Paterson and Scott Bright all earning bookings, before the hosts passed up a glorious chance to put the game to bed.
Euan O’Reilly had stepped off the bench just after the hour mark and was a real nuisance to the Lichties defence. With 11 minutes remaining, he was adjudged to have beaten Arbroath’s attempted offside trap and looked certain to score as he rounded McAdams, but his touch was heavy and instead took him out of play.
He did test the keeper soon after, but his strike was straight at McAdams, before he dragged an even better chance wide from less than ten yards out in stoppage time. Ultimately, it didn’t matter though, as Arbroath failed to break through and they’ll be hoping for a better result at home to Queen’s Park on Friday.
Stenhousemuir: Jamieson; Grant, Young, Bright; Meechan (Penman, 84’), Anderson, Robson (Gillies, 70’), MacIntyre; Hodgkiss (Stevenson, 62’), O’Donnell (O’Reilly, 63’); Shinnie (Kargbo, 70’)
Arbroath: McAdams; Stewart, Watson, Mackie, Paterson; Constable, Flynn; Bonnar (Winter, 46’), McKenna (Daly, 81’), MacIntyre; Molotnikov (Dow, 63’)
Attendance: 618
