Mackay’s relief over end of losing streak
Stirling Albion boss Dave Mackay admits he was relieved to see the end of the bad run that had seen his side drop out of the play-offs.
The Binos regained their top-four place with a 2-0 home win over Berwick Rangers at Forthbank on Saturday and now face free-scoring Peterhead at Balmoor this weekend.
Top scorer Darren Smith bagged a brace to earn Albion their first win for two months and their first home success since late September. Mackay was an angry man after the 2-1 loss at Stenhousemuir last week but hopes beating Berwick could be the result that kick-starts their promotion push.
He said:“I’m happier with the overall workrate; that was much more like us. We looked tired the last 20 minutes or so and there were a couple of guys we wanted to take off. We had to make a couple of enforced subs but the guys kept at it and dug in for a clean sheet.
“When you are on winning runs things come easily but when you are on a losing run everything seems to go against you and it’s difficult to get out of them. Hopefully this is a turning point for us and we can now kick on.
“We’ve got a tough game on Saturday against a Peterhead team who are absolutely flying at the minute but we will go up there with a little bit of confidence.”
Stirling secured only their second shut-out since August and their first since the 3-0 victory away to bottom club Cowdenbeath in October.
Mackay added:“I thought the guys defended very well and won their headers and their tackles.
“They did the basics and the dirty part of the game and that’s something we’ve not always done well. I thought they were excellent and Cammy Binnie looked a lot more assured as well.
“The work rate of the front guys set the platform – we pressed higher and that allowed everyone to get higher up the pitch. It maybe wasn’t a pretty performance but we got the result.”
Andy Black and Steven Noble both came off injured but neither injury looks serious.
“Andy’s injury was a bad dead leg. It’s nothing major and we’ll see how he is on Thursday.
“Steven Noble has just felt his hip a little bit – I think he was wanting to play on but we didn’t want to make things any worse.”
Meanwhile, Mackay admits that on-loan Hearts winger Callumn Morrison may have played his last game for the club but stressed that nothing has been decided as yet.
He said:“Callumn’s ankle is pretty swollen from the injury he received in the Stenhousemuir game and there’s possibly a bit of damage to the ligaments although nothing major.
“I’d imagine he won’t be available for Peterhead on Saturday and his loan is up on January 15 so it just depends what happens after that.
“At the moment it looks unlikely that we will keep him but until it’s concrete you live in hope.
“There are a few positions I think need strengthened so we will work on trying to get two or three in. I know what the guys are capable of, which is the most frustrating thing. You don’t go from being the best team in the league in the first quarter to being one of the worst in the second quarter because they are bad players because they wouldn’t have had that good start.”