Stirling Albion 3 Queen’s Park 0
Goals from Dale Fulton, Sandy Cunningham and substitute Bradley Coyne saw the Binos notch up a third straight home win against 10-man Queen’s Park.
We are now just a single point behind leaders East Stirlingshire, along with Clyde and Annan, who we face at Galabank next weekend.
Fulton broke the deadlock at the end of the first half when he found the bottom corner with a terrific angled drive from the edge of the box.
The Hampden side were immediately reduced to 10 men when central defender James Brough saw red for what was deemed to be an elbow on Cunningham.
Gardner Speirs’ side enjoyed plenty of possession after the break and Blair Spittal should have equalised when he was clean through but he fired the ball over the bar.
Cunningham lashed home the all-important second goal via the underside of the bar with 14 minutes left and Coyne wrapped things up from close range in 82 minutes.
At that stage we were top of the table but late goals for East Stirling at Peterhead and Annan at home to Berwick changed that.
Greig McDonald was forced to make one change to the team that drew 2-2 at East Stirlingshire last weekend, with Kieran McAnespie replacing the injured Chris Smith in the centre of defence. David Weatherston returned to the squad for the first time since early October after a hamstring problem.
Albion had won 2-0 at Hampden at the end of August but Queen’s Park, while still bottom of the table, have improved since the early weeks of 2013/14 and both teams went into the game with just one defeat in seven games.
Lee Davison missed a good early chance for the visitors when he shanked his shot and David Anderson had an effort blocked but we offered more threat as the interval approached and Ross Forsyth headed against the bar from a McAnespie corner.
Fulton broke the deadlock with a fine strike for his fourth goal of the season and Brough was dismissed before the break on the advice of the assistant referee.
Queen’s Park played some good stuff in the second period but their only clear chance fell to Spittal. He missed when he should have scored and Cunningham showed him the way, hammering the ball in off the bar after being teed up by sub Stephen Day for his fourth goal of the campaign.
Coyne coolly slotted the clincher with eight minutes remaining after being played in by Jordan White as we made the most of our only home fixture this month.
Stirling Albion: Crawford, McClune, Ashe, Forsyth, Bishop, McAnespie, Johnston (Weir 66), Fulton, White, Cunningham (Coyne 80), Ferry (Day 66).
Subs (not used): Weatherston, McGeachie, Clark, Reidford (GK).
Scorers: Fulton 44, Cunningham 76, Coyne 82
Queen’s Park: Birnstingl, Fisher, Burns, Gold, Brough, Lamie, Davison (Collins 77), Anderson, Keenan, Vitoria (Gormley 70), Spittal.
Subs (not used): Gibson, Coll, McVey, Gallacher, Lochhead (GK).
Referee: Brian Colvin
Crowd: 681
