After a bright start to the season, the wheels appear to be coming off the Stirling bandwagon as they slumped to their second successive defeat, going down 2-1 to an Arbroath team which had failed to score in their previous home matches. This result saw Arbroath move out of the bottom two.

The match kicked off at a remarkably calm (weather wise) Gayfield Park, although I had gone dressed for the worst, with a fleece, jacket and scarf.

The Albion showed some enforced changes from last week with both George Rowe and Paul Hay missing due to injury. Chris Scotland moved into his more favoured central defensive position with Mike Galloway starting in midfield. This meant that Kevin McDonald was relegated to the bench. Gethins partnered McLean with Glancy playing wide right.

There was very little to write about in the first half as both teams huffed and puffed to little effect. Arbroath did have the ball in the net as early as the 7th minute but the stand side linesman had already put his flag up for offside before the ball had gone in. Just before the half hour mark, the Albion had strong appeals for a penalty turned down when Glancy appeared to be brought down inside the 18 yard box. Before that, there had also been appeals for a penalty when Gethins was brought down but, in my opinion, only the second incident appeared to justify a penalty. Unfortunately, referee McDonald was having nothing to do with either appeal.

Bishop of Arbroath became the first player to be booked in 31 minutes for pulling back Gethins. Shortly after that, Devine followed him when he fouled McDonald in the act of going for a cross from the right. Unfortunately, this incident happened in the penalty box and Cusick stepped up to send Hogarth the wrong way. 1-0 to Arbroath.

This goal seemed to give Arbroath a boost as they stepped up the pressure. McNally had to clear the ball off the line whilst McDonald hit the post with a longe range effort. However, there was no further action and half time came with Arbroath leading 1-0.

There were no changes at half time as the Albion made a tactical switch in moving Glancy into the middle with Gethins playing wide right. The change paid dividend when the equaliser came after 51 minutes. From my position it looked like McLean’s shot from the left was going in despite taking a deflection off Bishop. However, I have been informed that the shot would have gone wide so, technically, it should go down as an o.g. 1-1. A few minutes later, the Albion had further appeals for a penalty turned down when, once again, Glancy went down under a challenge from an Arbroath defender.

Devine played a short corner to O’Brien who played the ball back to Devine. The defender’s left shoot went just past the far post. Then, against the run of play, Arbroath took the lead in 64 minutes. Cusick played the ball to Swankie whose cross was met by Brazil who crashed the ball home from close range. 2-1 to Arbroath.

A typical surging run by Ferguson finished with a free kick being awarded to the Albion. Gethins right foot effort went past without troubling Inglis. The Albion made a double substitution with Scotland and Gethins being replaced by Hutchison and Wilson. Swankie was then booked for pulling back Wilson.

Arbroath were not allowing the Albion to play as they were quick to close down any Stirling player in possession of the ball. With 10 minutes to go, the Albion’s cause was dealt a severe blow when McNally was sent off for a foul on McMullen. The decision seemed very harsh as the Arbroath defender was just inside the Stirling half, therefore, the incident could not be construed as denying a goal scoring opportunity. However, the referee produced the red card and McNally was off. The Albion then used their final substitute when James Allan replaced David O’Brien.

A double save by Hogarth prevented Arbroath from increasing their lead. Firstly, he denied McDonald with a point blank save and reacted quickly to use his feet to save the rebound. As the Albion pressed forward for the equaliser, a Glancy header went a few feet over. With 2 minutes remaining, Ferguson squandered the best chance when a Devine cross found the midfielder in the 6 yard box. Unfortunately, Fergie was neither able to control the ball or get his shot in and Inglis fell on the ball. A long range McLean effort was comfortably held by Inglis.

Cusick became the third Arbroath player to be booked for a foul as the match entered the time added on by the referee. Unfortunately, the Albion didn’t manage to get the equaliser and the match finished with Arbroath being the winners 2-1.

There were very few plus points from today’s game and the Albion could be struggling for what will be a difficult trip to Berwick without McNally and possibly Rowe. Unfortunately, Moore does not have a big squad, therefore, wholesale changes are impossible. We just have to hope that Ferguson and Galloway control the midfield area and Glancy and McLean can recapture their early season form. The defence may see Roycroft or Hutchison coming in to replace McNally if Rowe doesn’t make it but we shall just have to wait and see.

On a brighter note, Athletico Bilbino, the Stirling Albion Fans Team, beat their Arbroath counterparts 13-2 earlier in the day to prevent it being a total disaster for the fans. How they wish that some of those goals could have been given to the main team.