Home losing streak ends but still no win
STIRLING ALBION ..................... 0 STENHOUSEMUIR ..................... 0
When both managers agree that a draw was a fair result, you know it probably was.
Stirling and Stenhousemuir battled to a share of the spoils on a heavy Forthbank pitch on a cold Tuesday night, having also drawn 1-1 here back in September.
Both teams had chances and either could have nicked it but the result was about right. It at least ended Albion’s run of five successive home defeats but they remain without a win at Forthbank since beating Annan in mid-November and leaders Cove Rangers are their next visitors on Tuesday.
Before then is the matter of a huge game against play-off rivals Elgin City at Borough Briggs tomorrow – both teams are just outside the top four, with Cowdenbeath third and Queen’s Park fourth.
Albion went into this game on the back of a 2-0 success at bottom club Brechin City while Davie Irons’ men had gone down 3-0 to Cove at Ochilview on Saturday.
Binos boss Kevin Rutkiewicz made four changes – Kevin Nicoll, Ronan Hughes, Dylan Mackin and Paul Willis replaced Kyle Banner, Dom Docherty, Max Wright and Darryl Duffy but the shape remained the same, with Willis at right wing-back.
Before the match – postponed from February 22 – there was a minute’s applause in memory of board member Rod Turnbull, who recently lost his brave battle with cancer.
Stirling have struggled on their own pitch in recent times but this was only their third home fixture of 2020. Stenhousemuir, without suspended midfielder Gary Harkins, should have been ahead after only 75 seconds. Nicky Hogarth made a good save from a David Hopkirk header and
January signing Greig Spence lashed the rebound wildly off target.
It was a slow start from the hosts but they grew into the game and Ronan Hughes had a chance before Graeme Smith pulled off a fine save to deny Mackin. The closest thing to a goal for either side came just after the half-hour mark when Dylan Bikey danced away from a defender and dinked the ball beyond Smith from an angle but it bounced off the post to safety.
Bikey had scored in his previous three games and it was a brilliant piece of skill from the Frenchman in a match generally short on quality. The huge amount of rain that fell in February had left the surface muddy in places and it was hard going for both sets of players.
There was no lack of effort and the match was stretched in the closing stages, when the Warriors came close to gaining revenge for
Albion’s 2-0 win at Ochilview at the end of December.
Hogarth brilliantly clawed away a header from Robert Wilson then the on-loan Rangers keeper did well to deny Hopkirk from close range before the ball was somehow scrambled clear. Skipper Ross McGeachie then thwarted Hopkirk with a superb last-ditch tackle in stoppage time as it ended 0-0.
Stirling Albion: Hogarth, McGeachie, Creaney, Nicoll, McLean, McGregor, Wilson, Hughes, Mackin, Bikey, Willis (Jardine 78). Subs not used: Stott (GK),Wright,Thomson, Docherty, Heaver, Peters.
Stenhousemuir: Smith, Tiffoney, Wilson, Armstrong, Munro, Hopkirk, McLaughlin, Blair (McBrearty 83), Moore, Spence, McGuigan (Biabi 71). Subs not used: Terry (GK), Burns, Massouaghou, McIlduff, Watters.
Referee: Stewart Luke