IT’SSOFAR SO GOOD FORTHE BINOS
Boss delighted with side in second place
Photo by Bryan Robertson.
SPFL LEAGUE 2
P W D 9 7 2 9 6 1 9 5 0 9 3 5 9 4 2 9 3 2 9 2 3 9 2 1 9 1 3 9 1 3
Kelty Hearts STIRLING A Annan Ath Forfar Ath Edin City Stranraer Elgin City Albion Rovers Sten’muir Cow’beath
Stirling Albion manager Kevin Rutkiewicz hailed his side for ending the first quarter of the cinch League 2 campaign with a 2-0 win at Elgin City on Saturday.
The victory strengthened the Binos’ grip on second place in the table and kept them four points behind leaders Kelty Hearts, who they face at New Central Park on October 30.
There are no league games this weekend due to the international break and the third round of the SPFL Trust Trophy, with Albion having lost 1-0 to Montrose in round two on September 4.
Stirling can enjoy the break
L F A Pts 0 19 6 23 2 17 9 19 4 15 11 15 1 13 8 14 3 10 9 14 4 7 11 11 4 9 13 9 6 8 16 7 5 8 15 6 5 9 17 6 after taking 16 points from the last 18 available and look forward to resuming against Stranraer at Forthbank on Saturday, October 16.
Albion hadn’t won any of their last six meetings with Elgin but goals from Martin McNiff and Dale Carrick at the end of each half earned them a hardfought victory over Gavin Price’s men, who enjoyed the bulk of the play in the second half but couldn’t breach the Binos’ defence.
Rutkiewicz said: “I felt it was very similar to the last time we beat Elgin two years ago when we went up there and won 2-1 with Josh Peters scoring a late goal. Blair Currie made a fantastic save from Shane Sutherland that day and the second half on Saturday was very like that game.
STIRLING RUN OUT TWO NIL WINNERS
“We certainly had to dig in but I don’t think Elgin had too many clearcut chances - Blair had one good save in the second half after a bit of a stramash in the box. We had a gameplan but I felt we surrendered the ball a bit too much at times.
“When we changed the shape for the last 15 minutes or so we came back into it a wee bit and we managed to get the second goal from Dale Carrick. The first goal was a great header from Martin McNiff from a setpiece - we know he is capable of that and Nathan Flanagan showed his quality with the two assists.
“I’m absolutely delighted with the result and it puts us 10 points ahead of Elgin. I thought we played much better against Edinburgh and that is the only game we haven’t won in the last six matches.
“The second half against Cowdenbeath was similar to the Elgin game in that we were under pressure but there was a steeliness about the boys. I thought every player contributed to the result.
“I know we’ve not had a good record against Elgin but I’m not big on hoodoos or that sort of thing – a game of football is a game of football.”