It was a narrow defeat at home to Stenhousemuir at New Central Park for the Maroon Machine.  A first half penalty converted by Euan O’Reily was enough for the Warriors to come away with all three points.

The decisive moment in the game came in the 28th minute with Ross Taylor involved.  The Stenny winger got on the end of a long pass and ran towards goal, he cut across the box and was tripped by Alex Ferguson.  Euan O’Reily converted the spot kick, firing high into the centre of the goal.  

Stenhousemuir thought they had opened the scoring earlier through Finn Robson.  The midfielder latched onto a cross to poke home but he was offside.

Kelty Hearts had a good chance to take the lead through the unlikely run of Jack Brydon.  He picked up the ball from defence and powered through towards goal, his shot eventually saved by Darren Jamieson.  

In the first half, a bright spark emerged through Joseph Teasdale who used his electric pace to run at the defence.  Right before half time he made a darting run down the left, found Johnston with a cross but the striker’s touch was too heavy.  

Gary Naysmith’s side also had chances to put the game to bed.  Dale Carrick forced a good save out of Corey Armour, who then got up quickly to smother the rebound.  

The Maroon Machine pushed for an equaliser in the second half.  Substitute Ricco Diack made his league debut, he had a header go narrowly wide from close range and earlier was stopped by a low save from Jamieson. 

The result leaves Kelty Hearts three without a win in league action, with a visit from Hamilton Academical to come.   

Written by: Jamie Szmitz

Photography: Kevin Marshall (@KayemPhoto)