Binos bashed by the Red Lichties
STIRLING ALBION .................................. 1 ARBROATH .............................................. 6
Stirling created enough but were wasteful while a strong and experienced Arbroath team made the most of the opportunities that came their way. They won the League 2 title here with a 1-1 draw on their last visit in May 2017 and have been on the up ever since.
Rutkiewicz made five changes to the team that drew with Hibs but it had always been his intention to give most of the squad an opportunity in this competition, with everything geared towards the Ladbrokes League 2 opener at home to Queen’s Park on August 3.
Arbroath struck after just 42 seconds and it was a wonderful goal. Bobby Linn and Gavin Swankie combined to feed the ball to Steven Doris and the ex-Stirling striker laid it off for midfielder Gold to fairly thump a shot beyond Cammy Binnie.
Stirling, again wearing their new purple change strip with Arbroath in white, actually recovered fairly well from that horrible start and played some decent stuff.
However, they were picked off again with the half hour approaching when McKenna headed in Hamilton’s cross from the left.
Mackin pounced following a corner two minutes after half-time but the men from Gayfield were always a threat and a quickly-taken free-kick allowed Hamilton to get beyond Craig Truesdale and set up Gold to make it 3-1 as we approached the hour mark.
This was an entertaining watch and Stirling should have cut the gap but their failure in front of goal was matched by some slack defending - with eight minutes left Hamilton slid in the fourth of the evening after a corner wasn’t cleared.
Even that result felt a bit harsh on the balance of play but Arbroath still found time to add a couple more goals.
Spence tapped in the fifth from almost on the line then waltzed through the defence to plant a lovely shot in the corner for number six in the 90th minute.
Stirling Albion: Binnie, McGeachie, Lowdon, Thomson, Banner (McGregor 46), Truesdale, Jardine (Heaver 66), Docherty, Mackin, Wilson, Scott (Peters 77). Subs (not used): Currie (GK), McLean, Murray, Campbell.
Arbroath: Gaston, Thomson (Murphy 37), Hamilton, O’Brien, Whatley, Gold, McKenna, Doris (Spence 46), Swankie (Kader 63), Linn, Wilson. Subs (not used): Jamieson (GK), Stewart.
Referee: Craig Napier Crowd: 474