Kelty Hearts fell to a defeat away to Stranraer in the club’s first visit to Stair Park since 2022. A first half brace from Lewis Dobbie dealt the damage as the Maroon Machine suffer another away loss.
Stranraer took the lead in 21st minute through captain Lewis Dobbie. The Blues regained possession in the midfield and played the ball out wide to Zach Bruce, from the right he darted into the box and cut back to Dobbie who fired into the bottom left corner.
Dobbie would double his own and his club’s tally for the afternoon in the 38th minute after capitalising on a misjudged header by Callum Flatman. The central defender went up for a header against Bruce but Flatman came out worse, this opened up Dobbie for a one-on-one with Jamie Smith, with the Stranraer captain providing a composed finish.
The Maroon Machine pushed for an equaliser at 1-0 down and nearly found it through Robbie Cole. Played in by Ryan Shanley, Cole found space past his man and powered a shot high which was tipped over by Max Currie.
The hosts would have had a third in the second half were it not for good goalkeeping from Jamie Smith. A cross from Daniel McManus fell perfectly for Seb Mason to power a header from six yards, but it was met with a great reactive stop from Smith.
Moments later, Smith was called upon once again to tip over a cross from Finn Ecrepont which looked as if it was just dipping under the bar.
Kelty’s best chance in the second half fell to Finn Moffett from a set piece. A cross was drilled in by Jamie Hislop which resulted in pinball in the Stranraer box, Moffett almost capitalised from close range but his effort was kept out.
Reacting to a disappointing result, Thomas O’Ware admitted to Kelty Hearts TV: “We got what we deserved. The two goals are defensive errors and it’s becoming too common a theme.
“There were so many individuals off it, so many defensive errors. We look at last week, back four were excellent, winning their duels and today we show up and make two errors for goals. From then we go into our shell, and for me Stranraer dominated the game.
“They won the battle, and for me that’s why the got the three points.”
Kelty XI: Smith; Faconer (Hannah 59′) , Brydon, C. Flatman (Walker 59′), Davidson; McManus, Cunningham, Ferguson (Moffett 59′); Hislop, Cole (Higginbotham (66′), Shanley (McCormick 74′). Unused subs: Adamson, Z. Flaman, Snoddy
Stranraer XI: Currie; Dunne, McLuckie, Gillie, Ecrepont; Quigg; McManus (Hughes 71′), Bruce (Stuart 62′), Traynor (Dolan 71′); Mason (Cleland 82′), Dobbie (Foster 82′). Unused subs: Healy, Henderson, Lynch, Nair
Written by: Jamie Szmitz
Photography: Kevin Marshall (@KayemPhoto)