Montrose make Stirling morose
Binos are dumped out of cup in first round
Stirling Albion .... 1 Montrose ............ 3 Stirling Albion were comprehensively beaten by Montrose in the first round of the IRN-BRU Cup at Forthbank on Tuesday night.
Dave Mackay’s men went into the game on the back of four straight victories, the latest of which was a 4-0 demolition of Berwick, but the Gable Endies were worthy winners here.
Andrew Steeves broke the deadlock at the end of an even first half. But the second period was dominated by Montrose.
Cammy Ballantyne, on loan from Dundee United, bagged a double and it was almost a surprise when Darren Smith pulled one back late on.
The visitors were strong and superbly organised, with former Dundee United skipper Sean Dillon marshalling the defence and keeper Jordan Millar barely had a save to make.
Binos boss Mackay made five changes from the weekend but Montrose’s line-up showed six alterations from the 1-1 draw with Stenhousemuir and they also had more options on the bench.
With Andy Little and Sean Dickson injured, and winger Callumn Morrison in action for Hearts U20s away to Formartine under the terms of his loan agreement, Stirling didn’t have much to change things.
Peter MacDonald was rested with a slight knock and Lee Hamilton was forced off at half-
time due to illness, but the whole team produced an off-colour performance.
In fairness, there wasn’t much in it during the first half and Darren Smith dragged a shot just wide before Liam Caddis diverted Connor McMullan’s free-kick into the net only to be correctly denied by the offside flag.
Stirling’s best player was the lively Ross Kavanagh and he did well to set up McMullan – the midfielder should have done better than fire his shot over the bar.
Montrose began to threaten more as the half wore on.
Iain Campbell curled a free-kick narrowly wide and Kerr Hay hit the side netting before Ross Campbell threaded the ball through for Steeves to beat on-loan Ross County keeper Mark Foden with a composed finish.
The Links Park outfit won 2-1 on their last visit in February and made sure of another success in Stirling in the 56th minute.
A good move down the left eventually saw Graham Webster set up Ballantyne and he arrowed a crisp finish beyond the keeper. Stewart Petrie’s side, who host the Binos on September 16, controlled the second half.
Albion offered little going forward and sub Connor McLaren - who was on loan to the Binos from St Johnstone in 2016/17 almost added a third with a header that dropped just over.
Montrose got the clincher five minutes from time when Ballantyne thumped a superb shot into the net from the edge of the box after an impressive build-up.
Albion pulled one back in the last minute when Darren Smith pounced from close range after being set up by Kavanagh for his fifth goal of the season but a first-round exit for the second year running had already been confirmed.