BINOS BOSS RUES LACK OF BELIEF IN THE TEAM SEEDS OF DOUBT COSTING US DEAR
Stirling let lead slip against Spiders
Stirling Albion manager Kevin Rutkiewicz was frustrated that his side didn’t take all three points from Saturday’s game against Queen’s Park.
The sides drew 1-1 at a wet and windy Hampden with defender Ryan Finnie equalising 11 minutes from time after Dylan Mackin had given the Binos a first-half lead.
Left-back James Creaney was sent off in the last minute for a second yellow card and will now miss Saturday’s home game against titlechasing Edinburgh City at Forthbank.
Rutkiewicz said: “I felt we should have won the game because at 1-0 up we had some good chances to get the second goal. We need to be more clinical and believe in ourselves more. There still seems to be a seed of doubt at times and it was also a poor goal to concede from our point of view.
“Queen’s Park finished the game strongly and threw everything at us but we were effectively down to nine men by the end because James had been sent off and Dylan Mackin was suffering from a dead leg. He had a good game and is hard to play against when he’s in that mood – he deserved his goal and will hopefully be OK for the weekend.” Spiders boss Mark Roberts was unhappy that referee Barry Cook had waved away early appeals for a penalty and Rutkiewicz said: “There was contact between Ross McGeachie and Salim Kouider-Aissa and I’ve seen them given but it would have been very soft in my opinion – I think he is looking for the contact.
“You could maybe argue that a draw was fair over the whole game and I’m pleased with the performance after the defeat to Brechin the previous week. I’m disappointed we didn’t win the game because we should have killed it off but we should probably see it as a good point away from home in what is always a difficult game.
“We look forward to the Edinburgh game now – they are a strong side but we have improved since they beat us in August and even on that day we had chances to go in at half-time in front.”
First-choice keeper Blair Currie suffered a muscle injury when clearing the ball at Hampden and was replaced by Cammy Binnie midway through the first half.
Currie has firmly established himself as Albion’s No 1 since joining from Clyde in the summer and is set to undergo a scan this week to determine the extent of the damage.
Binnie came on for his first appearance since Albion’s 1-0 loss to St Mirren Colts in the Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup in September but he isn’t short of first-team experience and is set to get his chance against Edinburgh City, with Stirling looking at the possibility of bringing in a backup on a short-term loan under the SPFL’s emergency goalkeeper rules.
Rutkiewicz: “It didn’t look great when Blair had to come off on Saturday but we need to wait and see what the scan shows. Cammy did well when he came on but obviously he’s not played too much football – we have a friendly against Linlithgow this week when a few players will get game time.
“If Blair is ruled out then we’ll be looking for a favour from a club to loan us a goalkeeper. That’s likely to be a young player but
Cammy has plenty first-team experience and we are better defensively as a team than when he was last involved so that should help him as well.”