KEVIN’S KEEPING UPBEAT
Binos boss proud despite late leveller
Stirling Albion manager Kevin Rutkiewicz refused to be downhearted despite seeing Clyde grab a lastminute leveller in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Broadwood.
Danny Jardine’s opener was cancelled out by Dylan Cogill as the Binos were denied back-to-back wins but Rutkiewicz was rightly proud of the performance.
He said afterwards: “The boys are gutted in there but I’m proud of everyone — we showed a real togetherness and I’m sure the fans recognised that; I certainly did.
We’ve just got to learn from it but it’s a valuable point away from home and I’ll always strive to take positives from the result.
“Clyde threw everything at us and we lost a bit of presence in terms of Darren Barr and Evan Horne coming off but the boys gave me everything. It was a cheap foul given away leading up to the goal and they had a bit of momentum. I’m not going to say Clyde deserved a draw but at that point they were definitely pushing for a goal.
“This is a hard place to come and Clyde are definitely a team who are going to be pushing come the business end of the season and we must strive to match the teams at the top of the table. It’s another building block but we must keep demanding results and performances from each other.”
He added: “Clyde were probably in our final third a lot more than we were in theirs but we are very much a team in transition. The players are adapting to new ideas but they have shown they are believing in what they’ve been told – it was a gritty performance and now we need to see if we can add a wee bit of quality.”
Danny Jardine looked to have given Albion a 13thminute lead, only for his header to be disallowed but Rutkiewicz refused to blame the officials.
He said: “I thought it was a perfectly good goal and Danny has shown a desire and a commitment to get to the header above big, strong defenders.
“For me it was a really good goal but if there’s been a foul I’m not one to look for excuses and I’ve no complaints about the officials. We all make mistakes so I’m not going to point the finger.”
The Binos boss kicked every ball on the touchline and insists he has no plans to change his enthusiastic approach to life in the dug-out.
He said: “I was nothing but honest as a player and while I’ve still got the energy and the body to kick, header, and be involved in every tackle from the sidelines I’m going to do it and I’m not going to apologise for it — it’s the way I am and I don’t mean any disrespect by it. I want my team to see I’m in it with them and I’m enjoying every minute of it.
“I don’t want to be looking behind us so for me the (immediate) aim is to catch the team in front. We had a good result last week and we’ve backed it up by coming to a really difficult venue and getting what could be a very valuable point.
“We are now going down to play a good Annan team who are led very well by an intelligent and forwardthinking management team. I know enough about them so I know the problems they can cause but I’ve got huge belief in what I’ve got here.”
●Holders Hibernian beat Stirling Albion 4-1 in the third round of the Scottish FA Youth Cup at the Hibs Training Centre in wet and windy conditions on Friday night. Ewan Swanson had the Albion youngsters level for a time after scoring with a superb free-kick but the Premiership side were 3-1 up by half-time and added the fourth goal just after the hour mark.