U19s lose to Dundee

Oct 22 2008 by Donald Morton, Stirling Observer Wednesday

STIRLING Albion’s under 19s exited the SFA Youth Cup at the hands of full-timers Dundee at Forthbank. In front of first team boss Allan Moore, the young Binos tried very hard but went down 2-0.

On Sunday the team faced East Stirling in a rearranged league fixture and won 3-0.

Stirling went ahead against the Shire in a fortunate manner when Ross McEwan’s cross was headed home by a despairng East Stirling defender attempting to clear.

The combative Falkirk side then lost a player when he needlessly struck a Stirling player as they lay on the ground following an innocuous tackle.

Before half time Scott Younger turned in a close range effort from a Stevie McIntosh shot to put the Albion two up then McIntosh added a third in the second half.

The next fixture for the under 19s is away to Morton.

The other three Stirling Albion teams took the chance of the blank SFA fixture weekend recently to play friendlies against Celtic. None of the teams recorded a win but nevertheless the players and coaches benefitted from playing against top opposition.

At Forthbank the under 15s lost 5-2; the under 17s lost 4-0 at Garscube in Glasgow while the under 13 team were handed a lesson from an excellent Celtic team at Barrowfield with the home team running out comfortable winners.

On Sunday they played Clyde and despite missing a few players on holiday the team performed well.

In a close first period with the elements in their favour Stirling dominated the play with some excellent passing moves but lost a goal after an avoidable defensive error.

In the second period they fell further behind with Clyde scoring two more.

Stirling Albion finished the third and final period on top with goals from Daniel McLaren and Scott McLay in responce to Clyde's single third period goal.

The youngsters face the long journey north on Sunday when they play at Ross County.

The under 15s team travelled to Arbroath for their YDI match but were disappointed with their performance in difficult, windy conditions – and lost 2-0.

The under 15s were due to play at Murray Park yesterday (Tuesday) against a Rangers XI and meet Alloa at Forthbank on Sunday at 12.15pm.

Best performance of the weekend was the under 17s win over Raith Rovers by 5-2. Sunday sees them face league leaders St Johnstone in the 2.15pm game at Forthbank.

Tickets are available for the youth development sportsmen’s dinner at Stirling County RFC on November 22. Contact coachstaylor@aol.com or ianhenderson4950@yahoo.co.uk. Tickets are £30 per individual but if you can organise a table for 10 or more a discount price of £25 is available.