Binos look for a change of fortune in cup

Aug 6 2008 by Donald Morton, Stirling Observer Wednesday

STIRLING Albion head for Arbroath tonight (Wednesday) in the CIS Cup first round, looking for their first victory of the new season.

Allan Moore’s men followed up the 3-0 defeat at Dunfermline in the Challenge Cup by losing their Division Two opener 2-1 at Brechin City on Saturday.

The Binos were made to pay for a string of missed chances when Darren Smith curled home a beauty for the hosts five minutes from time after a David White own goal early in the second half cancelled out Gary Twigg’s 39th minute opener at Glebe Park.

Albion are back on the road tonight looking to improve on a dismal recent record at Gayfield – they last won there 10 years ago this month and were beaten 3-2 on their last visit in May 2005 – but face an Arbroath team in confident mood after they thrashed Alloa 4-1 in their Division Two bow on Saturday.

John McGlashan’s men were promoted via the play-offs and have been tipped by the bookies to go straight back down but their performance against Alloa suggests they will be tough opponents.

Stirling defeated Brechin at this stage a year ago to set up a meeting with Hearts – and progress to round two at the end of the month gives them another chance of a clash against an SPL club, with only European entrants Celtic, Rangers, Motherwell and First Division Queen of the South exempt until the third-round stage.

Former Motherwell and Clyde midfielder Shaun Fagan was listed as a trialist substitute at Brechin on Saturday but neither he nor fellow trialist Chris Hamilton can be considered for the Arbroath match, as only signed players are allowed in the CIS Cup.

Liam Corr and Andy Graham picked up knocks at Glebe Park and Moore must hope they recover in time given that his small squad is already stretched due to the absence of Sean Roycroft, who suffered a broken nose in training recently.

Moore felt his side were unlucky losers at Brechin but knows they have to sharpen up in front of goal if they are to send John McGlashan’s men out of the CIS Cup.

He said: “We just couldn’t bury the game in the second half. I couldn’t see Brechin scoring again and we were well on top but we didn’t put our chances away. We started to play a couple of slack passes and were then hit with a sucker punch at the end.

“I thought we played very well in the second half and passed the ball well and I am sickened we headed back down the road with nothing.”

City manager Michael O’Neill reckoned justice was done after Albion’s equaliser came about when Ian Harty’s deflected shot was ruled to have crossed the line when it appeared veteran goalie Craig Nelson had done enough to keep it out.

He said: “I felt we could have been more than a goal in front at half-time. We played well in spells in the first half and created a few decent chances. However, we never started the second period well and the loss of the goal was annoying, although our players are still adamant that the ball wasn’t close to crossing the line.”

Stirling are back in league action this weekend when pre-season title favourites East Fife come to Forthbank for a game that is important to both clubs even at this early stage.

Dave Baikie’s Division Three champions – whose summer signings included ex-Dunfermline and Scotland striker Stevie Crawford – were perhaps surprisingly beaten 2-0 at home by Peterhead while Stirling are in need of a boost after a hard season in Division One followed by that opening-day setback against Brechin.

The match sees the return of popular full-back Paul Nugent to Forthbank just a few weeks after he ended his long association with Stirling in favour of a move to Methil.

Nugent made his Albion debut against Celtic in 2001 and became a regular at right-back, scoring a wonderful goal in the memorable play-offs against Airdrie United.

Stirling and East Fife have not crossed paths since the duo were in Division Three in 2002-03, with the Fifers winning the latest of those contests 2-1 at Forthbank in what was Moore’s first season as Binos’ boss. Five years is a long time to wait for revenge but victory this weekend would be sweet after just four league wins in the past 12 months.