Sat 2nd Nov 2019.

Lowland League

Report by John Gilmour

Bonnyrigg Rose 5 University of Stirling 1

An emphatic win for the Rose; one which adds to the confidence ahead of the upcoming 3rd round Scottish Cup tie at home to Montrose. It turned out to be a comfortable win against a side who have found some good from in recent weeks, something assistant coach David Burrell was aware, “This was a good win against University of Stirling because they have had some good results lately. We had a quiet start to the game and after around the 10 minute mark we settled. We scored good goals in the opening 45 minutes and the sending off helped us; but it was a good result for the squad and keeps the momentum going.”

It was a ropey start to the game for the Rose but in the 9th minute they took the lead with a cool finish from Scott Gray who clipped the ball home from a Johnny Brown cut back. They doubled their lead only a minute later when Dean Brett pounced on a save from the Stirling keeper to slam the ball into the net. The Rose scored their 3rd of the first half from Ross Gray just after the half hour mark, prodding home a loose ball from a free kick. Stirling needed something from the half and did pull a goal back in the 40th minute from James Berry with a super finish.

Bonnyrigg started the 2nd half and quickly had an added advantage when Stirling’s Mailer was given a straight red card for a poor tackle leaving them with 10 men after 53 minutes. The Rose then had plenty of chances to increase their lead but the visitors had to pull back into defence and hope for a break. However after 80 minutes they lost another goal. It was Dean Brett again with a super finish after some great football around the Stirling box. Then only 3 minutes later the Rose had a 5th when full back Webb sent the ball into his own net to complete the rout.

After the game full back and scorer of a double Dean Brett spoke, “Yes it was good to get the goals today because they are a good team. We’re playing with a lot of confidence just now and hopefully it continues for some time to come. All we can do is keep the momentum going and keep the pressure on other teams around us. We have the players here to have a very good season and with big games coming up it’s looking good for the supporters.”

David Burrell’s interview.

“This was a good win for the lads as the goals are coming from all areas of the line up. We had goals from full back to midfield and that’s something we look for. Deano got a double today but the Gray lads were on the score sheet as well and that’s exactly what we need. We don’t only rely on our strikers to get the goals although they always work hard as well. We have a busy 3 weeks ahead with 3 games in 6 days after the Dunipace game so we’ll pace ourselves ahead of the big one against Montrose. Stirling have had a good couple of results lately and were on a high after beating the champions last week so to hit 5 against them is really pleasing.”

Bonnyrigg: Weir, Brett, Brown, Moyes, Horne, Stewart, Currie, R Gray(Docherty), Martynuik, Hunter(Devlin), S Gray(Swanson). Subs: Andrews, Young, Baur.
Stirling: Walker, Quigley, Webb, Downie(Burrows), Mailer, Berry, Brown, Cowley, Hall(Baird), Jarvis(Chia), Heath. Subs: Doan, McMaster, Peden, Emmott.

Bookings: Stirling Webb.

Sending off: Stirling Mailer

Referee: Scott Lambie

Att: 357