The holders of the CIS Cup, Livingston, retained their grip on the trophy with a 2-0 victory over Stirling Albion in front of a crowd of just over 1000. However, on tonight’s performance, it is difficult to see them progressing beyond the next round as the Binos outplayed the SPL side for long periods of the match. The Binos’ fans had every right to ridicule the Livingston team’s SPL status and the scoreline certainly flatters the West Lothian club.

The Binos line up was unchanged from Saturday as Livingston started the match on the offensive. They won an early corner when a diagonal pass from Rubio was cleared by the Binos’ defence. Rubio then had a header cleared off the line. Lilley was released by Boyack but his cross was partially blocked allowing Hogarth to collect the ball.

The Binos’ first chance came in the 6th minute but McLean’s free kick didn’t trouble McKenzie in the Livingston goal. Ferguson did well to break up a Livingston attack when he backtracked to deny Boyack the opportunity to put in a cross. The CIS Man of the match, McNally, then put in a tackle on the edge of the 18 yard box to prevent Burton O’Brien an opportunity to shoot.

At the other end, a McDonald corner caused panic in the Livingston defence and a McLean header followed by a Glancy header resulted in another corner. The Livingston defence managed to hold out and the danger was cleared.

Livingston counter attacked and an O’Brien cross had Hogarth stretching to touch the ball over the bar for a corner. Livingston continued to press and some good defending by Rowe prevented Boyack from scoring after the local boy was left with acres of space in the 18 yard box.

However, Livingston took the lead with half an hour gone when Easton collected the ball and fired a 25 yard shot past Hogarth. Livingston almost scored a second when a mistake by Scotland wasn’t punished as Hamilton was unable to get his shot on target. With half time approaching, McNamee of Livingston was booked for pulling back O’Brien and he was followed into the referee’s book, 2 minutes later, by Stanic for bringing down Nugent as the Binos tried to get the equaliser. However, half time came with Livingston leading 1-0.

There were no changes at half time and the Binos began on the offensive. However, slack play by Scotland put McNally under pressure but Lilley only managed to blast his shot wide. A strong run by Ferguson took him into the 18 yard box and he released the ball to McLean whose shot was blocked. Shortly after that, the Binos were unlucky not to equalise when Glancy’s shot beat the keeper but rebounded off the post and cleared.

At this point, the Binos were exerting a lot of pressure and any neutral at Forthbank would have taken the team in red and white as the SPL side.

Livingston made the first substitution of the match when they brought on the experienced Lovell for Dair. Shortly after that, a Lilley shot rattled the post with Hogarth well beaten. The Binos brought on Hutchison in place of Nugent as the Binos looked for another way to get the elusive equaliser. The Binos’ fans thought that had come but McLean’s shot came back off the crossbar.

At the other end, a couple of McNamee crosses had the Binos’ defence under pressure but nothing came of it. With 10 minutes to go, the Binos threw on a third striker with Gethins replacing Hay and, a few seconds later, Livingston took off Boyack and brought on McLaughlin.

Glancy cut along the bye line but his cross was blocked. McDonald became the first Stirling player to be booked when he had a tug at a Livingston forward. Livingston showed that they were happy to retain their slender lead as they kept 4 players back in defence despite having the free kick. Then, totally against the run of play and, as the match went into injury time, Hamilton sealed their win when he sent Hogarth the wrong way. Shortly before that, Allan had replaced O’Brien.

This goal knocked the heart out of the Binos and it was a relief when Toner blew his whistle to end the match as the 2-0 score line was not a true reflection of the match.

The Binos can feel proud of their performance as the players received a deserved ovation at the end of the match. Every man played his part but the Man of the Match, in my opinion, was Craig Ferguson. His strength in midfield coupled with his distribution shows that he is a young man with a big future. Although he was playing against an SPL side, he did not look overawed and I hope that he will continue to put in similar performances in league matches. If he does, the Binos will certainly continue to challenge for promotion.

We have another home match on Saturday against Berwick and a similar performance to that of tonight should see the Binos retain their position at the top of the division.