Stirling Albion lose league top spot against Alloa Athletic

Nov 11 2009

IF CARLSBERG did derbies, they surely wouldn’t be like this.

Not only did Albion lose to Alloa by a solitary Andy Scott goal for the second time this season, they relinquished top spot on goal difference to Cowdenbeath - visitors to Forthbank on November 21 - and failed to score in consecutive derbies for the first time since 1981/82.

A sequence of one win in five Division Two outings has seen a five-point advantage eroded and Allan Moore’s men head for East Fife on Saturday in need of a boost.

It’s been a tough period for the club, with the Moore for Morton saga and an unpaid tax bill casting a shadow over on-field endeavours. With those issues resolved, Stirling need to sort themselves out on the pitch after suffering back-to-back losses for the first time this term.

The 3-2 reverse at Peterhead was an injustice given some of Albion’s superb attacking but this was probably the most disappointing display of the 13 games played so far. Falling behind for a seventh match in a row is an almost unbelievable statistic for a team riding high in the table but it is a habit that must be kicked soon.

Wasps boss Allan Maitland likened the match to September’s meeting between the pair and he had a point. An earlyish and avoidable Alloa goal from Scott followed by a second-half improvement from Stirling was the same rough script but The Reds offered much more guile and invention on the Recreation Park plastic than they managed here.

Too many hopeful punts were gobbled up by towering defender Scott Walker. The 34-year-old, who has won promotions with St Mirren, Brechin and Ayr in the past, might lack pace these days but he was a magnet for the ball and marshalled the rearguard superbly.

It was a seventh shut-out for Alloa and only Albion Rovers have a better defensive record in the SFL. Stirling, in contrast, haven’t managed to keep out the opposition since beating East Fife 3-0 in September. Hopefully that’s an omen for the weekend trip to Methil.

At Peterhead, Albion sliced the Blue Toon apart time after time thanks to slick, passing football with only the finish lacking, but the only similarity here was the impotence in front of goal. The Binos racked up a dozen corners but there can be few teams with such a poor conversion ratio. Despite some good deliveries from Stewart Devine, you never really felt one was leading to a goal.

Skipper Ross Forsyth, serving a one-match ban, was a big miss and Sean Roycroft’s injury problems again saw him sidelined. It added up to a defensive dilemma for Moore, who opted for a back three of Craig Young, Kenny Feaks and Andy Graham but it was an unhappy afternoon for the two youngsters.

Young was replaced by Liam Corr at the break while Feaks, normally solid and reliable, needlessly bundled over Stuart Noble when there appeared to be little danger and former Cumbernauld United striker Scott smashed the penalty high past the recalled Scott Christie for what proved to be the winning goal midway through the first half.

Ironically, Christie was dropped after an error in the previous beating by Alloa but Myles Hogarth’s replacement had no chance with the penalty and did nothing wrong on his return, pushing an angled John Grant shot round the post and making a fine block three minutes from time when Brian Carrigan sent Mark Brown clear.

On another day it might have been a costly miss but not on this occasion. Albion pressed hard in the second period but it was all too frantic and when the chances came they were almost inevitably spurned.

John O’Neill was unlucky to see his header from a terrific Graham cross slip narrowly wide, David Crawford made an acrobatic save to prevent Andy Gibson finding the top corner and David O’Brien failed to control the ball quickly enough when in space at the back post.

In the first half, O’Neill, Graham and Young had half chances but conviction was always lacking and Alloa worked hard to shut down the space. Maitland admitted that the interval introduction of Corr caused Alloa bother but a tactical adjustment negated his threat while Martin Grehan and David McKenna – with 11 league goals between them – had off-days.

When Alloa overcame Albion in September to edge three points clear at the summit, they then endured a barren run that ended with victory over Clyde 10 days ago and this win leaves them in fourth spot, just three points adrift of Cowdenbeath and Stirling.

With the likes of Iain Russell, Dougie Wilson and Mark Gilhaney still to return from injury, Maitland’s men are likely to hang around the upper reaches of the table.

Albion, for their part, will return to The Recs on January 2 seeking to avoid a third straight defeat in this particular neighbourly tussle for the first time since in two decades.

Stirling Albion: Christie, Graham, Young (Corr 46), Feaks, Murphy (McCord 77), O’Neill, Gibson, Devine, Grehan, McKenna (Mullen 70), O’Brien. Subs not used: Robertson, Hogarth.

Alloa: Crawford, McClune, McCafferty, Buist, Walker, Brown, Grant, Ferguson (Carroll 63), Carrigan, Noble (Kerr 84), Scott (Townsley 89). Subs not used: Philp, Hall.

Referee: Steven McLean