There was nothing to separate Kelty Hearts and Stenhousemuir as a tight encounter finished goalless.  Both sides had half-chances to win the match, but neither had the cutting edge to make the breakthrough.

It was a spirited performance for Kelty Hearts which was an improvement after the midweek defeat to Cove Rangers.  Stenhousemuir’s central defenders had to be fast to block early efforts from Brody Paterson and Luke McCarvel.

The Warriors’ chances came from range, with Blair Alston’s effort crawling agonisingly wide in the first half.  Similarly, a chance fell for Euan O’Reily inside the box who could only drag his shot wide.

Gary Naysmith’s side thought they had the lead in the first half through Corey O’Donnell.  A Nat Wedderburn cross was headed across goal by Ross Taylor for O’Donnell to finish with ease, but Taylor was offside in the build-up.

In the dying moments of the game, Matty Yates tried an audacious free-kick from distance to catch out Ruaridh Adams.  The goalkeeper was alert and managed to tip over the bar.

Reflecting on the 90 minutes, Charlie Mulgrew told Kelty Hearts TV “the lads from what I asked of them on Thursday were brilliant, it’s amazing the information they took on.  They were brilliant in spells, we just never got the goal.  I think everyone would agree we were the better team, there’s a lot of positives to take from that.”

Written by: Jamie Szmitz

Photography: Kevin Marshall (@KayemPhoto)