Stenhousemuir 3 Peterhead 1: First win for Warriors

Stenhousemuir appear to have some sort of a hex over Peterhead whose visit to Ochilview on Saturday could not have come any sooner, as Brown Ferguson's men recorded their first win of the season.
Stenhousemuir kickstarted their season with victory over PeterheadStenhousemuir kickstarted their season with victory over Peterhead
Stenhousemuir kickstarted their season with victory over Peterhead

Mark McGuigan’s delightful chip in the opening stages was cancelled out by former Warrior Mason Robertson’s header, before Nathan Blockley and Jamie Longworth netted after the break in a 3-1 victory.

An Irn-Bru Cup defeat to Cove in midweek was preceded by two league matches and four Betfred Cup clashes without victory.

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There have been some signs of hope, however, one of those the strike partnership flourishing between Longworth and McGuigan, which delighted assistant manager Jim Paterson.

"We spoke at the end of last season about building a team for promotion because we want to be up there at the end of the season as well,” he said

“And you look at the team we've brought in, we've got defenders who can defend we've got creation in midfield, and we've got two strikers – Colin [McMenamin] has scored goals every season – but right now Mark and Jamie are definitely starting to form a formidable partnership."

"We had a lot of excellent performances, but as the game stretched Jamie got more and more into the game."

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Long before that Longworth had pounced on a Robertson mistake on seven minutes to send McGuigan through and he showed terrific technique to lift the ball over the on-rushing keeper Greg Fleming.

When Robertson atoned for his error by nodding in at the other end on half an hour, Stenny had been pretty comfortable but the equaliser rocked them.

“They score and you thought could this just be a case of same old, same old,” said Longworth following his man-of-the-match performance.

“But we regrouped at half-time and the gaffer said to go do the same in the second half, cut out the silly mistakes and try and get a goal, and then settle again.”

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They did just that, with Blockley prodding in at the back post following a terrible attempted clearance by half-time substitute Mikael Diboko.

Ferguson’s men had led in four of their previous seven and any notion they would surrender the advantage this time was dispelled when Longworth capped off a great performance with his first league goal of the season.

Earlier he had beaten two men down the wing before teeing it up for Martin Scott, on as a substitute, who steered wide. This time, Scott nodded the ball into Longworth’s path and he sealed victory with nine minutes remaining.