Stirling team:- Hogarth, Graham, Lowing, Lawrie, Forsyth, O'Neill, Taggart, Docherty(Corr), Harty, McKenna(Waddell), Grehan(Hamilton).
Subs:- Waddle, Murphy, Corr, Hamilton, Christie.

Ayr team:- Grindlay, Dempsie, Easton, Walker, Campbell, Stevenson, Agnew, Aitken, Prunty, Williams, Keenan.
Subs:- Borris, McGowan, Gormley, Weaver, Stewart

Stirling Albion have three new signings to add to today’s squad after Allan Moore secured deals with trialists Kevin Ross and Chris Hamilton. Moore’s third signing of the week was former St. Mirren midfielder Mark Docherty. Allan Moore expects to sign at least one more player before the close of the transfer window.

Stirling go into today’s game on the hunt for their first win of the season against league leaders Ayr United. Stirling have struggled in previous weeks but have not been beaten at home this season. Allan Moore hopes to at least maintain the unbeaten home record today as his reign of manager may be questioned by some fans if the team loses out to Ayr.

The Stirling squad has a couple of changes compared to the squad that went to Stranraer with Liam Corr and Paul Murphy dropping to the bench to make way for David McKenna and new signing Mark Docherty, Stewart Devine was replaced by Chris Hamilton to make up this week’s squad. Former Bino Chris Aitken made a return to Forthbank as he captained Ayr United after making the switch at the end of last season.

On a warm afternoon at Forthbank it was Ayr United who got proceedings underway shooting towards the Morrison’s end of the ground. Ayr started out the better of the two sides and soon had the Stirling defence on the back foot when Bryan Prunty forced Myles Hogarth to tip his effort over the bar for an Ayr corner. Stirling came close to drawing first blood when Martin Grehan took a shot at Steven Grindlay’s goal after being set up by fellow hit man David McKenna but the shot didn’t worry Grindlay as he easily gathered the strike.

Ayr were looking like they deserved the top spot in the league as they managed to cobble together some good moves and get the better of the Stirling midfield and defence. Ayr soon managed to take the lead when Bryan Prunty managed to escape the challenges of the Stirling players. Challenges is probably a bit to fair on the former Aberdeen man as it looked like the Albion players were just letting him carve his way through towards goal before he hit his well placed strike towards the back of the net leaving Myles Hogarth to watch the net bulge as Ayr celebrated the goal.

No sooner after the Binos had restarted the match and Ayr were soon celebrating again when Ryan Stevenson managed to run pasta few Albion players and set up Brian Prunty who only needed to tap the ball passed Myles Hogarth to double their tally.

This wasn’t the start Allan Moore or the fans had hoped for as it was beginning to look like Ayr could continue and score a third. Stirling soon had things back under control when a Mark Docherty free kick just went over the bar. Stirling soon had something to cheer about when Nathan Taggart made a great run and a even better 1 – 2 with David McKenna before he chipped the ball over Steven Grindlay and into the back of the net to half Ayr’s lead.

After the restart Taggart was on fire as he went on another darting run in to the box leaving Ayr players in his wake wondering how to deal with the nippy little winger, after his run Taggart ended it with a good strike that just went the wrong side of Grindlay’s right hand post. Taggart soon had another chance to equalise for the Bino’s when David Lowing and John O’Neill linked up to provide Taggart the chance to turn and hit a shot at goal but the wingers effort just went over the bar.

Ayr were soon back attacking the Stirling goal as Bryan Prunty nearly secured his hatrick after he got on the end of a cross and headed it off the underside of the bar and bounced out off the line before being cleared by David Lowing. Ross Forsyth soon had control of the ball who managed to thread a pass through the Ayr defence to David McKenna who had an excellent chance to equalise for the Bino’s but the striker only managed a weak shot at Grindley. Stirling soon had moore defensive problems as Scott Agnew managed to get away from the Stirling defence to cross to Ryan Stevenson who fired a shot just wide past Myles Hogarth’s right hand post.

As the half drew to a close Stirling were trying everything to even things up before the break and at the heart of the attack again was winger Nathan Taggart as he managed a good run before passing to David McKenna who crossed into the box where Martin Grehan and Ian Harty were ready to pounce but somehow the two strikers couldn’t get the ball over the line. Ian Harty soon gathered the loose ball before crossing to Grehan who headed goalwards only to see his effort cleared off the line by the Ayr defence as the referee signled for half time.

Halftime: Stirling Albion 1 v 2 Ayr United

Stirling managed to make a better start in the second half than they did in the first with a few good chances to equalise form corners but Ayr managed to hold onto their lead. Former Stirling captain Chris Aitken was having a relatively quiet game and he wasn’t finding it easy to find the target from long range as he hit a 20 yard strike towards the Stirling goal but the effort didn’t worry Myles Hogarth as Aitken’s effort was well off target.

Ayr soon had another excellent chance to get another goal when Bryan Prunty was left one on one with Myles Hogarth after the Albion defence was beaten by a lob over to Prunty who chipped the ball over Hogarth and onto the bar before the ball was cleared be the defence. With things starting to look a bit depleted on the pitch Allan Moore decided to make his first substitution of the game has David McKenna was replaced by Steven Waddle.

Stirling were nearly on level terms when Ian Harty passed to Martin Grehan who sent a drilling effort from 20 yards out that just scooped over the bar. Stirling didn’t let the miss effect the confidence as the attack’s continued and the Binos were soon rewarded for the pressure thy placed on the Ayr defence as Andy Graham crossed to Ian Harty who would have had a good chance at goal if he wasn’t pushed over by former Hibs man Mark Dempsie in the penalty area and referee Chris Boyle didn’t hesitate as the whistle was blown and the penalty awarded.

Now if this was last season there was only one choice for taking penalties and that was penalty king Chris Aitken but since Tiff was now playing for Ayr it was time for a new king to be crowned and up stepped Ian Harty to take the burden of the Forthbank faithful and convert the spot kick to equalise for the Binos.

The penalty was flawless as Harty sent the keeper the wrong way and he tapped his effort low into the bottom corner. With things now level Ayr manager Brian Reid decided things wern’t going his way and he replaced Scott Agnew and Alex Williams with Ryan Borris and David Gormley.

As the half wore on and with both sides level pegging it was looking like both sides would be happy to settle for a share of the points and neither side looked threatening. Allan Moore was soon forced to make a substitution when debutant Mark Donnelly picked up an injury and he was replaced by Liam Corr. Ayr United soon had a chance to get back into the lead through Ryan Borris but Borris’s effort was weak and easily gathered by Myles Hogarth. Allan Moore made his final change of the game when he brought on new signing Chris Hamilton who replaced Martin Grehan.

The referee was soon handing out a couple of cautions as Bino David Lowing and Ayr’s Darren Keenan had a little disagreement over a challenge that ended with a free kick to Ayr in Chris Aitken territory but the former Bino’s effort hit the wall. As the half drew to a close Chris Boyle soon had his wee black book out again as he booked Liam Corr and Ayr’s Ryan Stevenson after the referee had his say in the match he soon ended things and both teams finished the game as it started.

The good thing about today’s game though was the fact that the team didn’t let the two early goals effect them as they managed to pull them back to gain a point. Hopefully the team can build on today’s performance and start to play well together.

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