Stirling Albion continued their recent good run of form with a 2-0 victory over Dumbarton to move the Forthbank team into third place in the league. However, they have played more games than their rivals but points in the bag can sometimes be better than games in hand. The victory came courtesy of a Robert Dunn double and it proved that Allan Moore got the better deal with the swap between Dunn and Allan.
Today will certainly go down as a very eventful day.
Firstly, I went onto the stirlingalbion-mad website, this morning, and entered my prediction of a 2-0 win for the Binos.
Secondly, I journeyed through to Dumbarton with the Young Reds mindful of the fact that, in seven previous organised trips with the Young Reds, the children had yet to savour an Albion victory.
Thirdly, we thought we were in danger of missing the start of the match as we ended up in a traffic jam 5 miles outside Dumbarton.Fortunately, we managed to get through it in time to catch the start of the match.
Fourthly the second half was held up for 10 minutes as a fire alarm had been activated causing the spectators to evacuate the stand. As the fans congregated on the pitch, some of the Binos’ fans held an impromptu kickabout.

However, to the match itself. Unsurprisingly, the Binos stuck to the same line up which had performed so well against Stranraer and Morton. The only change saw William Ferguson replace Craig Ferguson on the bench, the latter apparently having missed training on Thursday.

Early on, a Devine cross fell to Dunn but he was unable to get a shot away. Then a curling free kick from McKinstry was well held by Hogarth. After 5 minutes, Annand was booked for a late tackle on Devine. A cross from full back McEwan flashed across the Stirling goal but went harmlessly for a throw in.

The Binos took the lead in 15 minutes when O,Brien won a free kick. Stewart Devine’s cross was knocked in by Dunn. 1-0 to the Binos. In 19 minutes, Stirling had, what appeared to be a legitimate penalty claim turned down when Wilson’s cross appeared to hit the hand of a Dumbarton defender. Referee Hardie either chose to ignore this or missed the incident completely.

Walker then became the second Dumbarton player to be booked when he brought down Wilson. James Allan then had a long range shot which went wide.

Five minutes before half time, Stirling doubled their lead when Di Giacomo slipped past a defender out on the right. He cut inside and waited for the right moment to cross the ball to Dunn who made no mistake in slotting the ball into the empty net. 2-0 to Stirling.

Just before half time, Chris Scotland became the first Stirling player to be booked although, I must confess, I completely missed the incident and, in fact, didn’t know until half time that he had been booked.

Half time came with the score, Dumbarton 0 Stirling Albion 2.

Dumbarton made 2 substitutions at half time with former Bino Mark Bradley and Brittain replacing Borris and the ineffectual Allan.

A Dunn cross to Di Giacomo saw the Killie striker try to shield the ball which fell to O’Brien but the danger was cleared for a corner. At this point Stirling were stroking the ball about with comparative ease and were looking very comfortable. Thoughts then started to enter my head that this might be the first victory witnessed by the Young Reds away from home.

Gemmell became the third Dumbarton player to be booked when he pulled Canning back after the midfielder had hustled him into losing possession. 2 minutes later, MacDonald was booked for a foul.

Hogarth, in the Stirling goal, was confidently dealing with any cross despite the height advantage of Gemmell. But, just as I wrote that, he lost a ball from a corner but Wilson was on hand to clear any danger.

The game was then held up for about 10 minutes as a fire alarm signalled the order to evacuate the stands. On the restart, Dumbarton made the substitution which they had planned to do before the interruption as Russell came on for Annand. In response, Stirling brought on Aitken in place of Wilson.

Dillon then became the fourth Dumbarton player to be booked. Stirling took off Dunn and brought on Martin Glancy. Dunn left the field to a well earned round of applause from the large travelling contingent. The last change was made when Scotland went off and Hutchison came on. As the Binos were quite content to sit on their 2 goal cushion.

As I said, after an eventful afternoon, referee Hardie brought proceedings to a close and the Stirling players left the field to cheers from their supporters.

Whilst this victory may not have been as thrilling as last week’s, it was 3 points well earned and keeps the Binos in with a faint chance of promotion. However, more importantly, the threat of relegation recedes with each passing victory.

Hogarth, in my opinion, had an excellent game dealing with crosses in a confident manner. The back four, again, performed well as a unit and , in midfield, MacDonald and Canning look as though they are forming a good partnership. Up front, despite some misgivings by Binos’ fans about the merit of bringing back Dunn, he is linking well with Di Giacomo and Scott McLean will find it very difficult to break back into the team when he recovers from injury.

Next week sees the Binos entertain the Honest Men from Ayr in what should be a cracking match with Stirling looking to avenge the defeat at Somerset Park just before Christmas. The earlier meeting in the season at Forthbank saw a crowd of just over 1000. Let’s hope as many fans as that, and more, turn out next week.