Stirling Albion return to Forthbank, to concentrate on the league this week, after their excellent performance against Celtic at Parkhead last week. Unfortunately we were eliminated from the cup by the champions. Today was do or die for the Beanos with our hopes of survival in the First Division on a knife edge. The Beanos went into today’s game missing Colin Cramb and Steven Bell through injury but had Eric Partaalu back in the team after his suspension from the Scottish Cup tie against Celtic and Jay Rodriguez made his home debut after signing on loan from Burnley. Stirling looked the livelier team to start with and immediately put the pressure on the Livingston defence with a Paul Nugent free kick. Nugent delivered the ball into the box and it was headed goal wards by Livingston’s Craig James only for Livingston goalkeeper Colin Stewart to prevent the own goal.  Stirling had another chance to go ahead when Ross Forsyth hit a shot from 20 yards out but his efforts were easily gathered by Stewart. Livingston finally got a break when Graham Dorrans had a shot deflected into Scott Christie’s arms. Stirling were immediately back on the offensive when Forsyth had an excellent run and passed to Eric Partaalu who in turn sent an excellent shot towards the Livi goal, unluckily the Aussie’s shot was deflected past the post for a corner. By now both sets of fans were expecting the game to be a slow goalless affair after both sides had good chances to score early on. However on the 28th minute Eric Partaalu shimmied past tackles from the Livi defence and calmly slotted the ball home past Stewart for the Beanos to take the lead. Was this going to be the beginning of the much needed revival for the Beanos or was this just another false dawn. Unfortunately it proved to be the latter as Livingston quickly  levelled the score through Dorrans who took got on the end of a Colin McMenamin cross. Stirling’s protests were waved away by referee Chris Boyle and both Chris Aitken and Eric Partaalu were booked for protesting about the way Andy Graham was tackled by Livingston’s McMenamin. Soon after Dorrans scored the equaliser Stirling were 2 v 1 behind after Laurie Ellis only managed to clear as far as Steven Craig who managed to chip his shot over  Scott Christie from 20 yards out. As the Beanos began to revive from the sudden change of fortune Paul Hay was tackled from behind by Liam Fox and for his troubles Fox was booked. That was the end of the action for the first half as Chris Boyle blew for the halftime oranges.

Allan Moore had a tough job at half-time to get the Beanos to turn things around and unfortunately the players didn’t respond as Livingston were quickly on the offensive and Dorrans had a one on one with Scott Christie but luckily Christie made the save to keep the Beanos in with a chance.  As things didn’t improve for the Beanos Allan Moore made his first substitution of the game with Paul Hay making way for John Paul McBride. This change forced Aitken out on the right with McBride and Partaalu in the centre. The change didn’t help the Beanos as by now Livingston were in control and most of the action was in front of the Stirling goal. No sooner after a goalmouth scramble was cleared by the Stirling defence, Dorrans had a good run and flicked the ball onto Robert Snodgrass who blasted his shot at a helpless Scott Christie to make it 3 v 1 for Livi in the 58th minute. With Stirling now lagging 2 goals behind the visitors’ lightweight striker David McKenna was soon replaced by Derek Lilley who has been suffering from goal deficiency since 2006.  Stirling were nearly further adrift as Livi’s Steven Craig had a free header which he knocked past the open goal for a goal kick. Soon after Craig’s failed attempt to put the game beyond Stirling, the Beanos had chance to score from a free kick that was delivered calmly into the box by Stewart Devine and headed goal wards by Ross Forsyth for it only to be gathered by Colin Stewart. But the small defensive scare that Livingston just had didn’t worry them for long as Scott Christie missed the chance to stop a cross from Dorrans and Snodgrass easily slotted home the fumbled cross. Now that the game was past Stirling, Allan Moore made his final change of the game when Andy Graham was replaced by Nathan Taggart to open up Stirling’s chances down the wings. Soon after the Stirling change Livingston made a couple of changes with Colin McMenamin making way for Steven Weir and Steven Craig made way for Leigh Griffiths. As play continued the Beanos had a few chances to pull a goal back as Chris Aitkin and Derek Lilley both seen their shots go over the bar. Livingston made their final substitution of the game with Robert Snodgrass coming off to make way for Alan Walker. The final play of the afternoon ended with John Paul McBride being booked for his challenge on Craig James. With that the Beanos left the park to the sound of boo’s from the fans. All I ask now is, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang was that the final nail in the Beanos coffin for this season?