Stirling Albion midfielder Kyle Banner knows that Tuesday night’s bore draw in Dumbarton wasn’t one for the purist – but hailed the squad’s grit to set up a possible title party on Saturday.
The equation for Stirling Albion is a simple one to secure League Two title glory – they require just a single point of their own or for Dumbarton not to win any of their remaining three games.
Failing that, the Binos also enjoy a whopping 19-goal cushion in the goal difference equation, meaning it looks almost a certainty that the silverware cupboard will be swelling at Forthbank in the coming weeks.
But the Stirling squad are only too aware there is no room for complacency.
The 23-year-old midfielder said: “It was probably a tough watch for the fans but both teams were just battling to get something out of the game. A point probably suits us more and it’s on to tomorrow to hopefully get it wrapped up.
“The pitch was softer than I was expecting, especially with the sunny weather and the wind didn’t really help either and I think you can see between the two halves – it was a game that you just needed to grind out and make sure you didn’t lose it.
“The second half we were under the cosh maybe more than we were hoping for and the ball wasn’t quite sticking and there was a point where the boys turned to each other and just said ‘make sure we get through this’ and don’t lose the game and it sets up the weekend brilliantly.
“The fans have been coming back week-on-week and the numbers have been getting bigger and bigger the closer we’re getting, so hopefully they all turn out on Saturday. We can fill the place out and it will be a great day for everyone involved if we can do it.”
Stirling manager Darren Young echoed Banner’s assessment of the game and warned his players not to take their eyes off the ball against an Annan Athletic side flying in recent weeks ahead of their own play-off battle.
Young said: “At the end of the day, we wanted to make sure we didn’t come here and lose any ground, we’ve managed to keep the gap to nine points and the 19 goals as well.
“We would have loved to have come here and won, but they’re a good team and have been top of the league a lot of the season.
“We just wanted to make sure that we didn’t lose a goal, lose a late one and the gap is then down to six points. We’ve had to grind it out again and get a draw, another clean sheet away from home, that’s four clean sheets in the last five so it’s all good for us.
“Annan have been on fire recently and are probably the form team at the moment, they have had 3-0 and 4-0 victories and are scoring a lot of goals so they will put us under pressure and it’s up to us to do the right things, defend correctly and get the points that will take us over the line.”
