Saints' Youngsters Outgun The Warriors
- Winning In The Rain
- Feb 16
- 5 min read
Saturday 15th February 2025
Scottish Premier Amateur Football Association
Premiership
Stenhousemuir Foundation 2 - 5 Oban Saints
Ochilview Park
Gladstone Road
Stenhousemuir
FK5 4QL
Referee Mr Stephen Rae
Five goals from five different goal scorers, including a debut goal from youngster Connor Beattie, gave Oban Saints their first win of 2025 at Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir last Saturday afternoon. Fraser MacFarlane, Ruaridh Horne, Keiran Griffin and Gavin Forgrieve put Saints comfortably in front at the interval with Beattie adding a second-half fifth before two late strikes from hosts Stenhousemuir Foundation took a little of the shine off an otherwise good all-round performance.
With eleven players unavailable Saints' Gaffer Ross Maitland named three under eighteens in the starting eleven and included three under sixteens alongside himself and Coach David Dunlop on the substitutes bench.
Saints lined up with Craig Maitland in goal behind a back three of Aidan Jackson, Ben Forbes and Captain Scott Maitland. The three-man midfield of Ruaridh Horne, Gavin Forgrieve and Alec McInroy was flanked by wingbacks Kieron Lopez and Keiran Griffin with Rhys Millar and Fraser MacFarlane up front. Veterans Ross Maitland and David Dunlop were joined on the substitutes bench by youngsters Connor Beattie, Donald Campbell and Innes Fraser.
Saints kicked off on the immaculate Ochilview 4G surface attacking the Donald Smillie Enclosure end where they opened the scoring after eleven minutes. Rhys Millar started the move on the halfway line after picking up a clearing header from Ben Forbes. Millar laid the ball off to Scott Maitland on the left of the back three who, in turn, sent Keiran Griffin away on the left. Griffin cut inside and picked out Fraser MacFarlane for a neat turn and shot which flew high into the net beyond the left hand of Stenhousemuir keeper Mark Angus.
Ben Forbes continued his search for that elusive first Saints' goal running onto an indirect free kick from Gavin Forgrieve after Mark Angus had been penalised for picking up a back pass. Forbes however couldn't beat the Stenhousemuir defensive wall with Tushar Patil eventually slicing the ball behind for a corner kick.
Front pairing Rhys Millar and Fraser MacFarlane both had efforts blocked by Stenny central defender Jordan Piercy before Ruaridh Horne tested the handling of Mark Angus with an effort from the edge of the eighteen-yard box.
Having safely gathered Horne's shot, Angus launched a twenty-third minute counter-attack where the hosts passed up a decent opportunity when Adam Cunningham sliced high and wide from a Tushar Patil cross from the right.
Ruaridh Horne's sights were now in, and he was on hand to fire high past Mark Angus' right hand from twenty-four yards doubling Saints' advantage in the twenty-fourth minute when tee'd up by Fraser MacFarlane.
Saints stretched their advantage still further two minutes later when Rhys Millar raced onto an Aidan Jackson ball up the right and held off the challenge of Jimmy Chamberlain before picking out Keiran Griffin's near post run. Griffin got across Ricki Sharp to side-foot past the cruelly exposed Mark Angus from six yards.
Young Rhys Millar continued to find gaps in the Stenny defence and was denied on the half hour mark by an excellent recovery challenge from Jordan Piercy.
At the other end Hayden Orange sliced a left foot volley well off target after Ben Forbes had headed out a deep free kick to the edge of the Saints' eighteen yard box.
With ten minutes of the first half remaining Saints made it four when Gavin Forgrieve played Rhys Millar into the left of the Stenny box after a long and patient build-up. Millar was dispossessed by Jordan Piercy but the ball broke back to Forgrieve who found the bottom corner with unerring accuracy past the outstretched left glove of Mark Angus.
Ruaridh Horne and Scott Maitland were both narrowly off target before Stenny striker Adam Cunningham repaid the compliment on the stroke of half-time by slicing another Tushar Patil cross from the right high and wide.
Saints' Gaffer Ross Maitland looked to his extremely youthful substitutes bench after ten second half minutes handing a debut to Donald Campbell on the left with Alec McInroy making way. Further debuts followed nine minutes later when Connor Beattie and Innes Fraser replaced Fraser MacFarlane and Rhys Millar respectively.
Kieron Lopez fired over in the sixty-eighth minute before young substitutes Donald Campbell and Connor Beattie twice combined to test Mark Angus. Campbell's sixty-ninth minute cross from the left was met first time by Beattie who found the gloves of the Stenny keeper. Sixty seconds later the two young substitutes produced almost a carbon copy with Angus this time making an excellent save low to his right to deny Beattie.
It was a case of third time lucky for young Beattie in the seventy-fourth minute when he found the gap between Mark Angus' left-hand post and his outstretched fingers with a beautiful finish from eighteen yards after good work on the right by Aidan Jackson.
Having kept the hosts at arm's length for almost the entire second half, Saints would have been disappointed to concede six minutes before the final whistle. There was however little that could have been done to prevent Martyn O'neill's perfectly executed twenty-eight-yard free kick from finding the top corner.
By contrast Stenhousemuir's second goal was easily preventable as Saints' corner-kick Achilles heel was once again exposed. Adam Cunningham's delivery from the left was clipped to the front post with no Saints' player attacking the ball which eventually found its way into the net off the unfortunate Gavin Forgrieve who had been Saints' standout performer on the day.
There was still time for Saints to test Mark Angus again with the Stenhousemuir number one equal to the task saving well with his legs from Kieron Lopez before Referee Stephen Rae, who handled proceedings well, blew for full-time.
Due to scheduled opponents Drumchapel Amateurs Colts having folded, Saints have no fixture this coming Saturday but will resume their Scottish Premier Amateur Football Association Premiership campaign with a home match against Harestanes on Saturday 1st March.
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