TIME END AWAY PAIN
Rutkiewicz targets first away win of the season
Stirling Albion manager Kevin Rutkiewicz has urged his side to bounce back from their Scottish Cup exit to Clyde by beating Elgin City at Borough Briggs this weekend.
The Binos put in a good performance against Danny Lennon’s team at Forthbank but lost out to goals at the end of each half from Darren Smith and David Goodwillie.
Stirling lost at Elgin in the Betfred Cup in July but beat Gavin Price’s men 1-0 at Forthbank in September and another win would move them level on points with City.
The Binos are yet to win away from home in Ladbrokes League 2 this season and went down 1-0 to leaders Cove Rangers in their last match on the road.
Rutkiewicz, who will again be without suspended striker Darryl Duffy, said: “We should have won at Annan and we should have won at Brechin so the performance level is definitely there. We have got to put the disappointment and frustration of the Clyde game to bed pretty quickly and make sure we are ready for next week.
“Elgin are a good team and it will be a hard game up there but we need to ask the players to go to the well again and try to get the victory that would set us up nicely for a home game against Brechin the following week. Gavin Price sets his team up to attack so I’m sure it will be an open game and hopefully with a few goals in our favour.”
Rutkiewicz was this week handed a boost when forward Sean Heaver put pen to paper on a new contract through to the end of the season.
The 27-year-old was with the Binos as a youth player more than a decade ago but his career was interrupted due to injury.
The PEAK-based rinks of Ross Paterson and Eve Muirhead each bagged medals at the European Curling Championships in Helsingborg, Sweden.
Team Paterson – featuring Stirlingborn Olympic silver medallist Michael Goodfellow – claimed bronze after defeating Denmark 7-2. Paterson, Kyle Waddell, Duncan Menzies and Michael Goodfellow had to twice come back from behind to claim third place.
A three at the sixth end swung the match in Scotland’s favour. Another three at the eighth end handed the quarter victory. Team Muirhead – including former Balfron High School pupil Lauren Gray – suffered heartbreak in the final, going down 5–4 to Sweden.
The team also included Jennifer Dodds, Vicky Wright and alternate Sophie Sinclair.
The Swedes claimed victory with the final stone of the match.
The final was tightly contested and the Scots were in pole position going in to the final end, with a one point lead.
It took an exceptional shot at the end to snatch victory from Muirhead’s side.
She said:“We put up a good fight. It was a very good game, so it’s disappointing, but we got a silver medal at Vicky’s first championships.
“It’s difficult, but what can you do. We knew it was going to come down to the last shot of the last end and it came down to a couple of inches, but that’s curling.”
He went on to play amateur football with Doune Castle and Fallin before joining Stirling from Bannockburn in the summer. Heaver scored on his league debut in the 1-1 draw with Stenhousemuir at the end of September and has since become a regular in the side.
Along with Josh Peters, he is the club’s leading scorer this season with four goals and has been rewarded with a professional contract after initially signing an amateur deal until January. The Binos boss said:
“This is a well-deserved reward for Sean, who has worked extremely hard to get, and take, the opportunity before him. He has shown a confidence and ability to both score and set up goals and has become a real fans’ favourite in a short time.”
Former Forthbank fan favourite, Darren Smith, bagged one of the goals which sunk Albion on Saturday. Following the match he said: “I always had good times here and left on good terms so I didn’t want to rub salt in the wounds by celebrating after scoring.
“If Stirling play like that every week they are definitely going to get results and climb the table.”