Stranraer started the better side in the first 5/10 minutes, and had 2 penalty appeals, both of which were waved away by Mike Ritchie. After the initial pressure from Stranraer, Arbroath took the upper hand in the first half. On 25mins the home side really should have gone ahead. A Hugh Davidson touch found Brazil 20 yards from goal, and his effort was palmed into the run of Jay Stein who's shot was deflected, and seemed to be bobling towards the open net when Brazil suddenly ran in and somehow scooped the ball over the bar from a yard out!
Two minutes later came the major talking point of the game. Gary McPhee controlled the bar on his own 18 yard box line and Alan Brazil came in with a very reckless challenge which sent the Stranraer man down in a heap, with what looked like a broken leg. Stranraer nutter, Ian Ross then decided to run in from 20 yards away to swing a punch in Brazil's direction, which Alan reacted to. Bodies piled in, mainly Stranraer keeper and Celtic reject Barry John Corr and Arbroath midfielder Greg Millar. When everything was split up, the ref gave Ross a yellow card for his raised hands, and Brazil a yellow for the challenge.
On 39 minutes a good Jay Stein cross found Alan Brazil, who fired a low shot which hit the right hand post before going out for a goal kick. Five minutes later and the half time whistle blew, which led to Stranraer subby keeper Alan Morrison behaving like his fellow Stranraer keeper had earlier, and decided to have a go at Brazil in the tunnel.
Overall - Arbroath dominated the first half and were very unlucky not to score. Five minutes into the 2nd half though, and Stranraer scored with their first real chance of the match. Paul Walker dribbled past 2 or 3 Arbroath defenders before putting a lovely chipped pass into the box for David Hamilton, who cooly lobbed Neil Inglis from 12 yards out.
Arbroath really fizzled out of the goal after this, and Stranraer went 2-0 15minutes later. Ian Ross hammered a corner accross the box, which smashed off Hugh Davidson's chest and into the net past the helpless Neil Inglis.
Arbroath then produced some good passing through the midfield, which set up Jay Stein from 20 yards out who powered the ball goalwards, and had Corr at full stretch to save. Stranraer broke away from the rebound, and Paul Walker tried to chip Inglis, which produced a superb save from the Arbroath number 1. In the 87th minute, Stranraer scored a 3rd. David Hamilton picked the ball up 20 yards out after some scrappy play, and curled it beautifully into the top right hand corner. Alan Brazil got a consolation goal with almost the final kick of the ball, after great play by subby Reilly to set him up.
Overall I think Arbroath did alright. First half, we were by far the better team, against a so called division 1 side. In the 2nd half, we faded after the first goal, and were dissapointing. I still think if we play the way we did today against division 3 opposition we will be able to make the top 4, and get into the play offs. Bring on the league season!