Arbroath 3
Montrose 0
Scottish League Cup (Group Stage)

Match Report

Montrose travelled down the coast to a bright but typically blustery Gayfield for the last game of this season’s Viaplay Cup campaign.

Stewart Petrie made 4 changes from the team that won the penalty bonus point at Cowdenbeath last week with Andrew Steeves, Sean Dillon, Michael Gardyne and Blair Lyons replacing Evan Towler, Graham Webster, Craig Brown and Matheus Machado in the starting 11.

The hosts got the game underway and just 3 minutes in had the first chance as Hylton jinked past a couple of Mo defenders and crossed for Bird who headed wide of the post into the side netting.

Montrose’s first real chance fell in 8 minutes when Aidan Quinn found the ball at his feet as a result of a corner but his goal bound effort was deflected over by one of the many Arbroath bodies between him and the goal.

Not even 5 minutes later Arbroath opened the scoring through Leighton McIntosh, as the former Cove Rangers striker collected a lovely pass by Hylton and managed to score with his second attempt after the first had been parried by Cammy Gill in the Montrose net.

Arbroath were keen to extend their lead with two corners coming imminently after the goal but the closest they came was with Scott Steele from the second one who headed just wide.

The rest of the half was mostly contested in the middle of the park with little chances being created at either end.

Montrose did, however, manage to muster a couple of close efforts. Firstly, Andrew Steeves got the ball towards the back of the box after a corner but his shot fizzed over the bar and then Ali Shrive had a goal bound effort deflected over from about 20 yards.

On the stroke of half time Montrose had their best chance of the half as Michael Gardyne shot from the edge of the box following a neat 1-2 between himself and Rory McAllister from a free kick, but his effort was well held by Gaston.

And so the hosts went in at half time with a 1-0 lead.

Terry Masson got the game back underway with Montrose now shooting towards a healthy away crowd of 406 in the Pleasureland end of the ground.

The opening 15 minutes of the second half was closely contested in the middle of the park again although neither team created any chances.

The first chance of the second half came just after the hour mark when Blair Lyons ran past his man on the left wing and cut back to Kane Hester who fired his shot low and hard towards goal only for it to be blocked and cleared by Ricky Little.

This seemed to fire the hosts into life as in the next few minutes Cammy Gill was busy in the Montrose goal, pulling off superb saves to deny McIntosh and Dow from close range.

Arbroath made a double change on the 70th minute mark as Jermaine Hylton and Leighton McIntosh were replaced by Mark Stowe and Kenan Dünnwald-Turan. The pair made an almost instant impact as with the next attack Stowe cut in from the left and had a shot saved by Gill but he could only force it into the direction of the oncoming Dünnwald-Turan who tapped in Arbroath’s second of the day.

A flurry of Montrose substitutions followed as Watson, Brown, Batchelor and Machado came on for Masson, Gardyne, McAllister and Lyons in the space of 2 stoppages.

With a little over 10 minutes to go Arbroath scored their 3rd and final goal of the game as Jay Bird got on the end of a Dünnwald-Turan cut back from the left-hand side and tapped in.

In the final 10 minutes the hosts twice came close to extending their lead with Bird rattling the crossbar with an acrobatic volley and Ryan Dow coming close once again.

Unfortunately, it just wasn’t to be for The Mo on this day or in this cup campaign but there can be positives taken, particularly from the opening match victory over St Mirren, into the league season which starts next weekend as we host Kelty Hearts at Links Park.

Match report written by https://montrosefc.co.uk/