Stirling Albion progressed into the second round of the CIS Insurance Cup with a deserved victory over Brechin City. Former St Mirren forward David McKenna was credited with the only goal of the game, sliding in to touch in Nathan Taggart’s intelligent centre after the young winger had rounded home goalkeeper Craig Nelson. The lead was just reward for a first half that Albion had largely dominated with McKenna and Taggart at the epicentre of the best movements. The second period saw a much more lacklustre effort from the Binos but Brechin rarely threatened Myles Hogarth’s net despite monopolising possession for long periods.
Allan Moore elected to give Colin Cramb his first start of the season, giving the experienced forward player valuable game time as he serves a three match ban in the league. Also making his first competitive appearance of the season was Chris Aitken, the midfield looking someway off the form he displayed against Airdrie United and Raith Rovers in last season’s playoff fixtures. McKenna was handed his first start in attack while Derek Lilley was rested entirely after a relentless ninety minutes against Partick Thistle. Nathan Taggart continued on the left hand side of midfield with Tomana on the right and Bell playing through the middle. There were no changes at the back for the Albion defence who would come up against old adversaries Iain Russell and Martin Johnston, both of whom were well marshaled by Andy Graham and Laurie Ellis who are in the process of forming an important partnership.
In front of a sparse crowd at Glebe Park it was the visitors who took control of the early part of the fixture, orchestrated by the dominant pairing of Aitken and Bell at the heart of midfield. Aitken was the first Albion player to have a serious shot on goal but his effort zipped past Nelson’s post rather comfortably. The experienced goalkeeper was rather more unsettled as a speculative ball forward was allowed to bounce in the box allowing McKenna to glance a header towards the bottom corner of the net, Nelson diving to his left impressively to stop. The goalkeeper reacted then reacted magnificently to stifle McKenna’s rebound from close range to maintain his goal. Albion were utterly dominant at this stage of the game with Aitken again denied by Nelson as his powerful long-range shot arrowed towards the right hand corner of the net. It was good work from Nathan Taggart that eventually brought a breakthrough. The little winger had made several profitable forays forward but had not made a truly telling contribution until he hovered up a short back-pass from Murie before rounding Nelson and rolling the ball across the goalmouth for McKenna and Brechin defender Scott Walker to slide at the ball in tandem. The ball ended up in the net and although McKenna claimed the goal it looked as though Walker had the final touch; the young forward was credited with the goal, a just reward for a fine evening’s work.
The second half was a more sedate affair with Albion content to soak up pressure for long periods while hitting their hosts on the break. McKenna was again at the climax of another promising move, smashing a shot at Nelson early in the period. Russell warmed Hogarth’s hands for the second time, the former Dumbarton forward had a shot well saved by the Albion keeper early in the match but on this occasion he fired straight at the Binos’ custodian. Stirling thought they had won a penalty moments later when Cramb was hauled down in the box but referee Freeland’s decision was overturned by the linesman who had spotted a (soft) foul by Cramb on David White previously. The game drifted lethargically along with neither side finding a real rhythm, partly because of a number of substitutions. Brechin became desperate in the final minutes and created two of their best chances, Russell firing wide before Martin Johnston had a glorious chance to level the match with the final kick but sliced a long range shot wide with Hogarth looking distinctly uneasy.
It may be a cliché but cup football is all about winning and that is exactly what Allan Moore’s side did effectively on Tuesday evening. It was far from a flawless performance from Albion, who fell away alarmingly in the second half but were rarely troubled by City. There were more positives than negatives to be taken from the showing with the central defenders again showing up well along with Taggart and McKenna. On the flip side both Ross Forsyth and Steven Bell limped off and it appears that the left back will be absent for several weeks – a massive blow to the Binos.
Stirling
Albion FC
