Bonnyrigg Rose welcomed 3rd place Stenhousemuir to New Dundas Park, a match that was set to be a tightly contested fixture given Stenhousemuir’s recent form. Rose made 4 changes from the side that lost 1-0 away to Dumbarton, with Conor Doan, Bradley Barrett, Callum Connolly and George Hunter dropping out and Ross Gray, Scott Gray, Lee Currie and Kevin Smith coming in. New signing Kieran Mitchell, who signed on loan from Raith Rovers on Friday evening, made the bench.

The first chance of the game fell the way of Stenhousemuir as Adam Brown’s effort from side the box was well defended by Neil Martyniuk. However, The Warrior’s early onslaught would prove decisive as Mark Weir’s attempted clearance was intercepted by Matty Yates and the ball rolled into the net putting Stenhousemuir 1-0 up. They continued their early pressure as they added to their lead as Euan O’Reilly met Yates’ corner to head home the second.

Rose tried to respond to the early flurry from the away side as Ross Gray and Keiran McGachie’s efforts were wide and blocked respectively. The team were unable to get a goal back before the break however, as Stenhousemuir took a 2-0 lead into half-time as strong winds descended upon New Dundas Park.

The break proved an effective time for Rose to regroup and they came out of the blocks firing in the second half as Kevin Smith’s shot deflected out for a corner. From the resulting corner, Rose were able to get one back as chaos in the box eventually saw Smith bundle the ball over the line.

The first changes of the game saw Stenhousemuir bring on Thomas Orr and their new signing on loan from Queens Park, Liam Brown. They would go on to make yet another change soon after, after a hard 50/50 between Dean Brett and Callum Yeats saw the latter being brought off, replaced by Ross Philp. Bonnyrigg also made some changes with Ross Gray and Jonny Stewart being replaced by debutant Kieran Mitchell and Callum Connolly, the former injecting some real energy into the Rose attack. Rose went on to have the ball in the back of the net just after the hour mark, but the goal was chalked off after the goalkeeper was judged to have been fouled.

Rose were pushing hard for the equaliser, with Kevin Smith being denied a second following a last ditch interception from Nicky Jamieson and McGachie seeing his header cleared off the line. The Warriors were able to withstand the pressure from Bonnyrigg and soon added a 3rd as a brilliant ball in behind from Michael Miller was slotted home by Matty Yates for his second.

Rose were then awarded a penalty as substitute George Hunter, who replaced McGachie, saw his cutback handled, and Neil Martyniuk sent the keeper the wrong way to put Rose within one yet again. The push for the equaliser continued with Kevin Smith’s near post effort being turned behind for a corner, but the push wasn’t enough as Stenhousemuir scored a 4th through substitute Thomas Orr which sealed all three points for the visitors.

Bonnyrigg Rose now sit 7th in the cinch League Two, and they will hope to bounce back in their next fixture when they travel away to Albion Rovers on the 8th October.