Stirling Albion:- Hogarth, Nugent, Forsyth, Mc Nally (Hay 30), Roycroft (Fraser 35), Aitken, Bell, Devine, Snodgrass, Taggart (Tomana 73) and O’Brien. Unused Subs:- Cashmore and Christie

Alloa Athletic:- Creer, McKeown, Bolochoweckjy (Coult 64), Thomson, Forrest, McColligan, Clark, Grant, Mackie (Sloan 78), McClune and McAnespie. Unused Subs:- Ovenstone and Comrie

Stirling Albion kept up the pressure on league leaders Morton with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Alloa in the final local derby of the season. However, the victory came at a cost with both central defenders having to be replaced before the first half was over and Devine being red carded for his part in a flare up involving several players near the end of the match in scenes reminiscent of last week end’s Carling Cup Final.
McNally looked to have damaged his right shoulder whilst Roycroft had to come off with what looked like a muscle injury. Whether either, or both, will be fit for Tuesday’s visit to Cowdenbeath, remains open to doubt.
The Binos starting line up showed one change from the team which beat Brechin last Saturday with Taggart partnering Snodgrass up front. It can only be presumed that Wilson, who had a good game at Brechin, had some kind of injury. The change meant the recall of Fraser to the bench.
Alloa’s problems were obvious as they could only list 4 substitutes with no substitute goalkeeper and their goalkeeping problems were only compounded when it was obvious that Creer was carrying an injury making it almost impossible to kick the ball. All this made up for a very eventful afternoon which ended in semi darkness as the referee played an additional 8 minutes at the end of the match.
Creer was the first keeper to be called into action when he saved a Bell volley. Forsyth was then caught in possession but McAnespie’s weak shot was easily saved by Hogarth. The Bino’s sloppiness was almost punished but McNally came to the rescue after Aitken’s pass had been intercepted.
Creer then produced a moment of great hilarity when he completely missed a passback but, fortunately for him, his blushes were saved as the ball went for a corner. He then managed to miss Devine’s corner but there was no Albion player on hand to take advantage.
Hogarth didn’t seem to be exempt from goalkeeping errors as he failed to stop a McAnespie 25 yarder but the ball hit the post and bounced back safely into the arms of the Binos’ stopper. A few minutes later, a Forsyth cross found Bell at the corner of the 6 yard box but his header was inches wide.
On the half hour mark McNally had to go off holding his right shoulder and Hay came on in his place. This change saw Nugent moving to partner Roycroft in the centre of defence. However, this formation only lasted 5 minutes before Roycroft signalled to the bench that he had a problem with the back of his leg. Fraser came on with Forsyth moving to central defence and Devine dropped back to left back. Before that, a quick break involving Hay and Snodgrass ended with Bell’s shot being tipped wide for a corner.
Creer couldn’t hold a 30 yard shot from Aitken but Taggart found the angle too tight and couldn’t get his shot on target.
There were no further chances and the teams went into the break goalless.
Alloa started the second half brightly with, first, McAnespie shooting across the face of goal from a tight angle then Bolochoweckyj had a header which was inches wide.
However, it was the Binos who opened the scoring in the 57th minute when a Snodgrass free kick, from just outside the semi circle, was curled round the defence and into the back of Creer’s net. 1-0 to the Binos with Snodgrass’s first goal at Forthbank.
The lead was doubled just a few minutes later when Nugent was quickest to react after Creer could only parry a header and scored a rare goal for the Binos
The third goal came when Tomana played the ball wide to O’Brien whose first touch almost gave Creer the opportunity to clear the danger. However, O’Brien showed more determination in the challenge and had the simple task of putting the ball into the empty net.
Hay almost made it four when he got on the end of a Tomana cross but his downward shot went inches past.
O’Brien rounded off the scoring a few minutes from the end when Creer could only parry a Snodgrass shot into O’Brien’s path.
A bad challenge by McColligan saw several players being involved in a punch up. Once the referee had restored order, he showed red cards to Devine and Grant, a yellow to Aitken before coming over to the Albion bench to administer a yellow card to McNally. Moore was then spoken to by the referee, an act which has cost this reporter £5-00 in the virtual pledges on the Albion website. However, the perpetrator of all this got off completely scot free.
After 8 minutes of added time, the referee eventually blew his whistle on a very eventful match.
Whilst the result is very pleasing, there is no doubt that the performance did not match last week’s. Taggart didn’t look as comfortable as Wilson playing up front and there were too many slack passes by the midfield. However, at this time of the season, the result is the most important thing and today’s 3 points virtually guarantess a play off place with Morton looking uncatchable.
Next up is two trips to Fife. Firstly to take on Cowdenbeath followed by a visit to play a resurgent Raith Rovers who are looking more and more likely to be the Binos opponents in the first leg of those play offs.
Unfortunately, I won’t be at Central Park but I hope that as many fans as possible will be able to make the journey to cheer on the boys.