DON’T LET THE STANDARDS SLIP
Rutkiewicz aims to build on encouraging start
Stirling Albion manager Kevin Rutkiewicz has urged his team to build on a solid start to the season when they host Annan Athletic at Forthbank on Saturday.
The Binos kicked off their League 2 campaign with a 0-0 stalemate against title favourites Queen’s Park 11 days ago and earned another point in a 2-2 draw with Stenhousemuir at Ochilview.
Jack Leitch’s last-minute goal rescued a point against the Warriors after Botti Biabi and Greig Spence’s penalty had overturned David Wilson’s free-kick in the proverbial game of two halves.
Peter Murphy’s Annan were 3-0 winners over Cowdenbeath on the opening day then drew 1-1 with Stranraer and Rutkiewicz admits it’s a big game even this early in the season.
“It’s been a tough start to the season with the fixtures we have had,” said the Binos boss. “But we’ve come out of it sort of unscathed and with a lot of positives. We are in a good place but the pressure is on now for the Annan game because you are always looking to win at home and we need to build on the two performances so far. The two draws only become good results if we follow them up with wins.”
Stirling beat Annan 3-2 at Galabank when the sides last met in January and the Binos have a good home record against this weekend’s opponents.
Rutkiewicz, who was No 2 to Annan boss Murphy before taking the reins at Forthbank, added: “Annan have a good start to the season. They had a great win against Hamilton in the Betfred Cup then a good result against Cowdenbeath, albeit Cowden were missing a few players.
“They will be hard to beat but we need to be winning games at home and utilise the bigger park if we can. We need to put together the good stuff for 90 minutes – we reached those heights for 45 minutes at Stenhousemuir so it’s about trying to get that consistency.”
Wilson and Leitch were both on target against Stenhousemuir which was a plus point for the manager, who felt his team didn’t score enough goals from the middle of the park last season.
Rutkiewicz said: “It was a great free-kick. We know David is capable of that from set-plays and it’s the composure and identifying what’s on that is part of his game. He knew there was an area to be hit and as soon as the ball left his boot it looked in.
“I did bemoan the lack of goals from the middle last year because that put more pressure on the front boys. One of the major reasons we brought Jack to the club was to score goals from that area – it was a smashing, composed finish.
“He is certainly one of the players you would have wanted the ball to fall to at that point in the game.”
Defender Paul Mclean went off early against Stenhousemuir with a thigh injury and will be assessed this week while striker Dylan Mackin could again miss the Annan game. Winger Kieran Moore was sidelined with a groin strain and will be assessed.
Fans will be able to watch all the action live on Stirling Albion
TV.