No Christmas cheer as City take points
STIRLING ALBION .................................... 0 EDINBURGH CITY .................................... 1
It was Santa hat Saturday at Forthbank but the festive cheer was in short supply as Edinburgh City grabbed a stoppage-time winner.
A match of few chances was settled when Allan Smith drilled home a low shot to keep James McDonaugh’s men two points behind leaders Cove Rangers. It was a second successive home defeat for Kevin Rutkiewicz’s team and they remain just four points above bottom club Brechin, with big games at Stenhousemuir and Albion Rovers looming either side of New Year.
Stirling should have taken a point but City were the team pressing in the closing stages and were rewarded when the ball broke for former Dunfermline midfielder Smith to beat Cammy Binnie.
The Albion keeper was making his first start in League 2 since the 4-1 defeat at Peterhead 12 months ago, although he featured in the Betfred and Caramel Wafer Cups earlier this season and came on as a substitute for the injured Currie at Hampden last week. Jay Elliot, an 18 yearold with Stonelaw Boys Club, was on the bench as a trialist.
Binnie did well against Edinburgh but didn’t have too many saves to make, as was the case for his opposite number. The visitors had two keepers ruled out so fielded 19 year-old former Hibs man Joshua Rae as a trialist and he was rarely troubled by the division’s lowest-scoring team.
Midfielder Paul Willis was absent through illness and that was also the reason for the substitution of Kevin Nicoll towards the end of a lacklustre contest that was in keeping with the recent meetings between the sides.
They have crossed paths five times since
Rutkiewicz took over 14 months ago and four of them have finished 1-0, a trio of wins for City and one for Albion at Ainslie Park in January. The other encounter was a 0-0 draw at Forthbank on the final day of last season, so it was hardly a surprise that we didn’t witness a pre-Christmas classic.
Almost nothing of note happened for the best part of half an hour before things sparked into life – Blair Henderson was completely unmarked and should have scored with a header but it was a poor effort from the big striker and Binnie flipped it over the bar. Dylan Mackin almost broke the deadlock at the other end two minutes later but his header came back off the right-hand post.
You’d be struggling to find many highlights from the second half – Albion got into some good positions but made the wrong decision all too often. Dylan Bikey was introduced from the bench but failed to have much of an impact and it was looking increasingly like a 0-0 draw.
However, Edinburgh are always a threat from set-pieces and also pushed their full-backs high up the park to decent effect. The men from the capital threw plenty balls into the box and it paid off when Smith scored the winner to ensure their third successive December victory.
In contrast, Stirling have gathered just a single point this month and are eighth in the table – a point in front of Stenhousemuir, who they face in their final fixture of 2019 at Ochilview on Saturday.