Reality check for Stirling as Forfar cruise to victory
Stirling Albion .............. 0 Forfar Athletic .............. 3 Stirling’s best winning run for a decade was halted by Ladbrokes League 2 leaders Forfar with surprising ease on a disappointing afternoon at Forthbank.
Gary Bollan’s men hadn’t managed a victory in any of their previous seven matches but still remained a point ahead of Arbroath at the top of the table going into Saturday’s big game against the Red Lichties at Station Park.
First-half goals from Jim Lister and Danny Denholm had the Loons in control and Denholm added a third early in the second half to give Forfar their second 3-0 success at Forthbank this season.
The Binos looked nothing like a team who had won six on the bounce as they conceded cheap goals and failed to score for the first time since the 2-0 reverse at Edinburgh City on December 10.
That defeat saw them fall to the foot of the table but they sit sixth now, although any lingering play-off hopes are surely over.
Albion trail Elgin City – who they face at Borough Briggs on April 22 – by six points with only five games to play.
Moreover, Jim Weir’s men have a vastly superior goal difference.
Stirling had strung together that terrific sequence of victories despite a lengthy injury list and they were again without Ross Smith, Ross McMillan, Jack McCue, Willie Robertson and Calvin Colquhoun as well as suspended duo Sean Dickson and Ross McGeachie.
Ross Forsyth returned to the side, as did