Stirling Albion boss Darren Young praised his side for earning a crucial win against bottom club Cowdenbeath at Forthbank on Tuesday night.
A run of just one league success since September – at Stenhousemuir on January 2 – had piled the pressure on the Binos, but they came out on top 2-1 in midweek.
Dale Carrick (pictued right) bagged a double to seal the win, with substitute Liam Buchanan pulling one back in stoppage time, a result that lifted Albion 11 points clear of any relegation play-off fears. It’s a huge weight off the team’s shoulders going into tomorrow’s game against Forfar Athletic at Station
Park, where the Binos were beaten 2-0 on their last visit in
December.
Gary Irvine’s team drew 0-0 with Elgin City last weekend are sitting third in the cinch League Two table, with Stirling now in seventh place and within two points of a Stranraer side sitting just above them.
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Three home games against Annan Athletic, Albion Rovers and Stranraer are still to come later this month following tomorrow’s clash against the Loons. Stirling have been badly hit by injuries and suspensions of late so Young was proud of the display against the Blue Brazil.
He said: “I thought it was an outstanding effort from the team – from back to front they really put a shift in and the two goals from Dale Carrick were tremendous. When the chips were down the players have stood up to be counted and it’s great to get the three points so we can look up the table again. Getting the win was massive and we found a different way of winning which was pleasing. I’m delighted for the club, the players and the fans because it has been a while coming.
“I thought we deserved it and losing the goal at the end is probably the only mistake we made all game. We had to be right defensively and I think Martin McNiff won every header.
“We had suspensions, injuries and Covid situations and the game only got harder when Mason Hancock had to go off with what looked like a bad one.
“We then also lost Kyle Banner and you have others like McNiff and Akeel Francis, who haven’t played a lot of football recently.
“It was good experience for our U20 players Darrell (Love) and Isaac (McLean) to be involved in the squad. They have done well in training and deserved the opportunity. On another night they might have got on the pitch but it was difficult because of all the injuries we were picking up.
“If the players can play like that between now and the end of the season, we’ll certainly win more games than we lose.
“It’s a big game against Forfar and we need to be hard to beat again because we showed against Cowdenbeath we can hurt teams.”
