Stranraer 1 Gretna 2: Derby Disappointment

Stranraer's hangover from the New Year continued with a defeat at the hands of fellow promotion hopefuls Gretna. Making his debut in the match for the Blues was Lee Collins, who had spells with Morecambe, Kilmarnock, Albion Rovers, Swindon and Blackpool. Despite showing some good moves, he was replaced just after Gretna scored their second goal.

As usual Stranraer made heavy going of the opening stages of the match and Gretna had most of the scoring chances.

In the 12th minute Gretna came close to scoring with a inswing corner that resulted in a melee outside the 6-yard box. Gary Cohen took a shot, but it was deflect wide of the goal by a Blues' defender.

Stranraer final woke up in the 18th minute when David Graham broke into the box despite close marking from David Irons. However, he lost his footing ten yards out, and despite falling over he managed to knock the ball narrowly wide of the goal.

Three minutes later Graham again bust into the box and fired the ball goalward. Goalkeeper David Mathieson saved the shot with his legs and Graham was on hand to knock the rebound wide when he could have done better by squaring the ball to an onrushing Michael Moore.

Martin Birch gave Gretna the led in the 31st minute through a long range effort. A poorly cleared ball fell at the feet of the right-back at least 30-yards out, and his powerful shot went high and to the right of McCondichie into the back of the net. In fairness, the ball seemed to take a bit of a swerve in midair that may have confused the 'keeper.

Kevin Finlayson tried to get the home-side back into the match four minutes later, but his solo run into the Gretna box was shut down by a quick acting defence.

Neil Watt must have given the team a good talking to at half-time as they came out a different looking team.

Five minutes after the restart Moore came close with his head from a David Graham free-kick, but Mathieson tipped the ball over for a corner. The resulting corner was not wasted. Lee Sharp took the corner and Michael Moore rose high above the Gretna defence to head the ball over Mathieson and into the net.

Despite keeping up the pressure it was McCondichie who was pulling off a great save ten minutes later when Ryan Baldacchino broke through and shot from the box.

In the 68th minute Wingate broke free down the wing and found David Graham with acres of space on the left hand side of the park. His low shot lacked the power to beat Mathieson and the 'keeper was not troubled by the effort.

Against the run of play Gretna scored what proved to be the winner when Michael Galloway collected the ball at the edge of the Stranraer box and hammered the ball past McCondichie.

Stranraer continued to battle-on, and were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when David Graham was bundled off the ball in the box in the 81st minute.

With the clock ticking down the Blues were unable to score the equalizer and as a result Gretna sit on the same points total, albeit having played an extra game, as the Blues.

Man of the Match- David Graham had the oppositions defence in knots at times, but in the end he was unable to break through.

Overall Summary- A disappointing match with the flare the Blues' had earlier in the season a distant memory. The match was also marred by the number of bookings (six) Gretna picked up for numerous fouls.

Attendance: 485