PLAY-OFFS ARE NOW IN OUR SIGHTS
Things are looking up for Binos boss Footinjury to keep Nicollout fornow
Stirling Albion manager Kevin Rutkiewicz believes his side are hitting form at just the right time after a third straight win took them to within a point of the play-offs.
A Darryl Duffy double and a Dom Docherty goal earned a 3-2 victory at Annan on Saturday and they now face another big game at home to an Elgin City side just below them in League 2.
The Binos have already beaten Gavin Price’s men twice this season and a third success would probably take them into the play-off places, with Annan away to leaders Cove Rangers.
Rutkiewicz said: “It’s a great league and there is going to be a lot of competitive football played over the next few months so I hope we are hitting momentum at the right time. We have only lost three of our last 15 games in League 2 and have now won three in a row away from home.
“We had the bad result against Brechin while Edinburgh and Cove both beat us very late on so in terms of consistency we are up there – I think we are third in the table over the last seven games.
“I said to the boys that I wanted to score more goals in this quarter than we have so far this season and we are at six from two games so that’s a good start but I’ll take seven 1-0 wins from now if you can promise me them!
“We’re right in touch and I think there are six teams from Cowdenbeath in third place who are all probably fighting for two play-off places. I’d include Stenhousemuir in that because they have added a lot of quality this month and had a magnificent result against Elgin on Saturday.”
He added: “I’d still say that Kane Hester and Shane Sutherland are probably the best partnership in this league and that will help Elgin win games and who knows what will happen with Queen’s Park before the transfer window closes now that they have gone professional – I expect them to bring players in.”
Reflecting on the win at Galabank, Rutkiewicz added: “It was a bit nervier at the end than we wanted but I don’t think there is any doubt we deserved to win. We were by far the better team and fully merited being 3-0 up but conceded a couple of sloppy goals, which isn’t like us.
“We have gone to a place where only four or five teams have won in the past 18 months and we are one of them. People might point to the fact they were without Nathan Flanagan and Christian Nade but we only had 10 players at the end after Kevin Nicoll went off injured and for me that was a factor in their second goal because we were a bit distracted.
“Darryl Duffy is going to get a lot of plaudits for his goals in the last two games but I thought Dylan Mackin was fantastic again – he is becoming a proper focal point for the attack and a real target man.”
Stirling Albion are hoping that midfielder Kevin Nicoll won’t be sidelined for long after suffering a foot injury in Saturday’s 3-2 win at Annan.
The former Clyde man limped off late in the game amid fears he had suffered a broken bone but an X-ray on Saturday night gave the all clear on that front.
Binos boss Kevin Rutkiewicz said: “We feared he had broken his foot and it was his own opinion that something had gone but the good news from the X-ray is that there is no break or fracture.
“However, I’ve been long enough in the game to know that bone bruising and soft tissue damage can still keep players out so I’m not doing cartwheels at the minute.
“It happened when he won the ball but the follow through took him into the bottom of someone’s boot so he has a significant stud mark on his foot and the bruise was already there at 4.45pm. He is important to us because the boys know that if they are in the trenches he is there with them.
“Cammy Thomson wasn’t involved at the weekend because he had an ankle problem recently and we wanted to give him a bit of a rest and Josh Peters didn’t manage the full training session last Tuesday but both of them aren’t far away from being available.”