Kelty Hearts were beaten by high-flying Stenhousemuir in Saturday’s televised League One meeting. Matty Aitken and Dale Carrick were on target for the Warriors after Kelty were handicapped by Jack Brydon’s early dismissal.
After a strong opening 15 minutes by the Maroon Machine, the game turned on the 16th minute with Brydon’s red card. An overhit through ball was played towards Dale Carrick, Brydon cut across Carrick and the forward went down.
Referee Joel Kennedy’s decision was to send off Brydon and award a spot-kick to the visitors. From 12 yards, Matty Aitken made no mistake firing into the top right corner while Kyle Gourlay dived to the left.
Stenhousemuir doubled their lead four minutes before the break, this time with Carrick on the scoresheet. From a goal kick, Ross Meechan flicked on to Carrick who took a touch to get past Dylan Corr and drilled home a cool finish.
Things could’ve gone worse for the Maroon Machine as Stenhousemuir showed no signs of letting off in the second half. Just two minutes after the restart, Gary Naysmith’s side had been awarded another penalty.
This time, Oliver Whyte was progressing deep in the box when he was tripped by Dylan Corr at the byline. From the spot kick, Kyle Gourlay guessed correctly and dived down to the right to keep out Aitken’s second penalty of the evening.
Stenhousemuir orchestrated a professional performance, restricting ten-man Kelty to no efforts on goal. Cameron Cooper made his debut for the club in the 55th minute, and provided high energy pressing to no avail.
Thomas O’Ware made two changes from the side who progressed past Cove Rangers in the Scottish Cup last week. Sam Fisher and Craig Johnston both missed out due to injury, with Dylan Corr and Alex Ferguson coming into the starting eleven.
Reflecting on the defeat to Kelty Hearts TV, O’Ware admitted “I can’t keep making excuses for the players. I thought we started really well and then we had a moment of madness. It’s hard to be critical because some players have ran themselves into the ground, but the red card had killed us.”
Written by: Jamie Szmitz
Photography: Kevin Marshall (@KayemPhoto)