Written by John - OTR Saturday, 03 August 2002 00:00

Super sub Paddy Flannery earned Sons a point in this match with a last minute goal at Ochilview which complete a miraculous comeback after being 2-0 behind.

Stevie Bonar's goal in the 79th minute which came from a horrendous defensive mixup in the Stenny defence was the spark that Sons needed to get into gear. Up until this point Sons were very poor. Defensively we lacked cohesion, Neil Duffy looked solid for the most part although at times he seems to take things a bit too easy. Neil Collins had trouble getting foot round the ball but has to be congratulated for a superb goalmouth clearance in the second half which stopped the scoreline going to 3-0. Craig McEwan didn't have a great game and he improved in the second half. But maybe that was because I didn't see him that often from my vantage point.

The midfield weren't much better with some awful passing, with John Dillon having a nightmare of a game. Needless to say, with the midfield not performing, chances were few and far between and the sooner Mark Crilly gets back to fitness the better.

The game had a lively start. Stenhousemuir hit the post from a corner in the first 5 minutes and Andy Brown was a bit late with a tackle on the standside touchline which got the home crowd agitated. But after that it fizzled out and the first half was largely forgettable.

The second half was heading the same way until Stenny's Booth pounced on a loose ball in the six yard box to open the scoring in the 54th minute. About ten minutes later the ref awarded a soft penalty when Neil Collins brought down a Stenny attacker who had been put through with a great ball. From my viewpoint, the Stenny player was definitely playing for the penalty. Booth struck the ball into the top corner to make it 2-0 to Stenny.

Stenny were cruising to a victory until the 79th minute when Stevie Bonar got on the end of a cross that had been left by two Stenhousemuir defenders and knocked in at the far post. The two defenders involved had to be separated by a teammate after the blame-allocation process got a bit heated.

Paddy's last minute equalizer was the final straw for some of Stenny players with a few of them refusing to shake hands at the final whistle. Good to see John McVeigh has installed sportmanship into his players.

Talking of John McVeigh, it's almost worth paying the admission fee just to see this guy. He's amazing. He contests every decision that goes against Stenny even when it's obviously the correct decision. A classic was when a Stenny player palmed off Stevie Bonar in the face right in front of the dugout. The ref correctly gave Sons a foul, but for McVeigh this was definitely a travesty and off he went shouting abuse at the ref. If he gets that agitated at every match he'll be heading for an early grave.