Old boy Chris sinks former colleagues in cup replay
From the Archives this week features one of Stirling Albion’s best-ever results - the Scottish Cup replay win over Hibs in 1999,
Even from a distance of more than 20 years out, Stirling Albion’s Scottish Cup victory over Hibernian in season 1998/99 remains an incredible result.
John Philliben’s side earned a memorable 2-1 replay success against Alex McLeish’s men at
Forthbank, having claimed a 1-1 draw at Easter Road at the first time of asking.
Stirling had been relegated from the First Division at the end of 1997/98 and John Philliben had replaced Kevin Drinkell as player/ manager during the summer.
The 1998/99 campaign was one of a few highs but many more lows – shocking Hibs was the pinnacle while at the other end of the scale was the calamitous 7-0 hammering at Alloa in August, just a few weeks after the Binos had drawn with Dundee United in the League Cup, only to lose on penalties.
A run of five wins in six games through the autumn – helped in no small measure by 10 goals from Alex Bone during that spell – saw the Binos sitting fourth in the table at Christmas but their form fell off a cliff in the second half of the campaign.
After beating East Fife 3-2 at Bayview on November 28, Albion managed only three more league wins – two against Partick Thistle and one on the final day against Arbroath. Had Stirling lost that match they would have been relegated but goals from Bone and Ally Graham secured the points and a sixth-place finish in a ridiculously tight division. East Fife were relegated despite finishing only half a dozen points behind fourth-placed Queen of the South.
In the Scottish Cup, Stirling had edged past Third Division Montrose in the second round, winning 2-1 in a Monday night replay at Forthbank to set up a visit to Easter Road five days later.
It was the first ever meeting of the teams in the Scottish Cup and the pundits were unanimous in predicting a home victory as the Binos made their first visit to this ground since 1981. Hibs were flying high at the top of the First Division and hadn’t lost since September. They were on a run of nine straight wins and the vast majority of the 8730 crowd expected them to make it 10.
The hosts included the likes of Paul Hartley, Mixu Paatelainen and Russell Latapy in their lineup but Stirling were outstanding in the first half on Saturday, January 23, and went ahead after 20 minutes when Graham released Stevie Nicholas, who coolly lifted the ball over Icelandic goalkeeper Oli Gottskalksson.
Hibs dominated the second half but Stirling were 14 minutes from glory when Paul Lovering equalised with a close-range overhead kick that crept in at the post. It finished 1-1 – a hugely respectable result for the Reds but most thought their chance of progressing had gone.
Results before the replay only strengthened that view – Hibs kept winning and were scoring goals for fun while Stirling lost at home to both Queen of the South and East Fife.
And so the stage was set on Tuesday, February 2 for quite a night at Forthbank, in front of a near-capacity crowd of 3592. McLeish’s men, now 20 games unbeaten, dominated early on with Latapy pulling the strings but were stunned when Stirling scored with their first attack in 14 minutes – Philliben’s free-kick went beyond the defence and David McCallum steered the ball into the net.
The First Division leaders roared back and Latapy beat Garry Gow with a superb strike to equalise before half-time but the Binos didn’t crumble and were back in front just before the hour mark when Nicholas set up ex-Hibs midfielder Chris Jackson to lash a shot high into the net.
Hibs piled on the pressure as they sought an equaliser and there were a couple of close calls but the back three of Eddie Forrest, Brian Martin and Philliben held firm as Stirling clung on.
The reward was a trip to Motherwell in the last 16, and it was goalless for an hour before Lee McCulloch and a Forrest own goal sent the Steelmen through with a 2-0 victory, but it’s the memories of that thrilling and unlikely success against Hibernian that lives on.