Scottish friendly ends level

Saturday afternoon saw The Nomads draw 1-1 with Scottish Second Division side Stranraer at Stair Park.

Dylan Forest put the hosts ahead in the 46th minute before John Disney equalised from the spot some 15 minutes later.

The Nomads hit the road at 6:45am from The Quay 3G and made the long trip north of the border for the first time since our Scottish Challenge Cup fixture with Partick Thistle back in October 2019.

The fixture saw Neil Gibson field two completely separate elevens in both halves as he looked to get more minutes in the tank for his squad as we enter the final preparations for our Europa Conference League fixtures.

The first half saw Stranraer have a few good early chances with Andy Firth pulling off a good save in the 11th minute low to his right to deny Tam Orr an early strike. At the other end, Callum Morris would find space on the left before cutting in and sending a curling effort towards goal only to see his effort saved by James McDonald.

In the 17th minute, it would be Firth denying Orr again, only this time from the penalty spot. From a corner, Paulo Mendes was adjusged to have fouled the man he was marking and the referee quickly pointed to the spot. Orr stepped up to take the kick, bu was foiled by Firth who dived low to his right to make a great save from the spot kick.

The Nomads would grow into the game and in the 28th minute a spell of pinball in the box occurred as Joe Faux tried to get a shot on target only for the ball to rebound agonisingly close to Mike Wilde, who saw his close range effort blocked by Craig Ross inside the six yard box - the block saw the ball escape to the edge of the area to the waiting Dan Roberts who hit a sweet curling effort towards goal only to see an impressive save from McDonald deny him his first Nomads goal.

Halt time saw Stranraer make a handful of changes whilst Neil Gibson made a complete lineup exchange with a brand new eleven coming out for the second half and it was perhaps the number of changes that for The Nomads that led to an early second half goal from Dylan Forest. Stranraer's first attack in the second half saw a mis-hit shot from Tam Orr not cleared and fall straight to the feet of Dylan Forest who quickly toe-poked his effort beyond Jon Rushton in The Nomads' goal.

The new players would soon settle into the rhythm of the game though and would go on to dominate the majority of the possession in the second half. Just four minutes after Stranraer's opener, a great save from George O'Connor would deny Josh Williams a certain instant response as a fantastic left handed save stopped Williams' curling effort nestling in the top corner.

From the resulting corner, Ben Nash would see his header go just wide but a few minutes later The Nomads were awarded a penalty as an inswinging corner was handled by one of the Stranraer defenders. John Disney quickly grabbed the ball and comfortably slotted the ball into the bottom left corner to draw the game level.

The Nomads would continue to control the majority of the remainder of the game with Harry Franklin striking from a tight angle only to see O'Connor collect the ball.

The game would finish with a series of Nomads corners which swung dangerously close to the Stranraer goal, with a Blues player almost putting the ball into his own net. The final action of the game saw John Disney pick out Harry Franklin at the back post, but he effort skewed wide as the referee blew for full time.

This brought the game to a conclusion and proved another worthwhile exercise for Neil Gibson as he continues to assess his squad ahead of selection for the European fixtures.

Match Report by Nik Mesney