Stirling Albion team:- Christie, Graham, Forsyth, Roycroft, Gibb, O'Neill, Hamilton, Murphy, Grehan, McKenna, Devine.
Subs:- Corr, Lawrie, Boyle, McCord, Hogarth.

Raith Rovers team:- McGurn, Wilson, Cook, Lumsden, Ellis, Walker, Wardlaw, Davidson, Wales, Weir, Sloan.
Subs:- Ferry, Whatley, Bryce, Graham, O'Connor.

After last week’s postponement of the local darby match against Alloa Athletic the Binos take on Raith Rovers in the first match of the new year. With it being the new year the fans are looking for some changes in fortunes for the club over the next few weeks especially with the January transfer window being open. Allan Moore has changed a few things since the start of the window with Ian Harty and Kevin Ross both being released. Moore has also signed Ryan McCord on loan from Dundee United for a month. Since the win at Gayfield a couple of weeks ago Allan Moore has made a couple of changes to the squad with David Lowing and Andy Lawrie stepping aside to make way for the return of Ross Forsyth and Andy Graham.

The Binos got the game underway in the wet and windy conditions with the wind at their backs. It took both sides some time to adjust to the conditions with Albion passes going straight through to Raith ‘keeper David McGurn and Raith passes being held up with the wind. The first real chance of the game fell to Raith Rovers after some good play allowed a cross to be hooked into the path of Gary Wales who forced a excellent diving save out of Scott Christie. Raith Rovers’ Graham Weir was soon being booked after he failed to impress referee Thomas Robertson who booked Weir for his dive. The Binos soon had a chance to take advantage of the wind from a corner but Scott Gibb’s header was no danger to McGurn’s goal as the effort went well wide of the target.

Stirling’s Scott Gibb was the next to attract the referee’s attention after his tackle on Graham Weir, the tackle wasn’t forceful more mistimed due to the conditions but the referee wasn’t going to allow for that as Gibb was booked for the foul. The Binos were beginning to get use to the conditions and Martin Grehan came close to opening the scoring after his effort for the edge of the 18 yard box was hit just wide of the box. Soon after Grehan’s effort the Binos shocked the league leaders after they failed to clear the ball Binos Assistant Manager John O’ Neill gathered the loose ball before firing a strike low into the bottom left hand corner of Raith’s goal. The Binos soon had another player booked after Paul Murphy managed to force Craig Willson off the ball.
Raith Rovers didn’t look like a team worth of their position in the league as Martin Grehan managed to control the ball and make some space for himself to take a shot in sthe box, but unfortunately for Grehan his effort went over the bar. With that the teams left the sodden pitch for the half time break.

Half Time: Stirling Albion 1 v 0 Raith Rovers.

The team’s finally emerged for the second half after the referee carried out a “precautionary pitch inspection” during the interval. Raith were soon taking full advantage of the wind being at their backs after shot from 40 yards was diverted behind by Scott Christie for a corner. As Raith started to look for the equaliser the ended up losing another goal after some great play from Chris Hamilton who managed to get in front of the defender before setting up David McKenna who was ready to take the shot and record his first goal at Forthbank this season. McKenna has started to show that he can score goals but only when he doesn’t have the time to think about it when he starts to think about the shot he usually misses the target.

With the Binos now in full control of the game it was up to Raith Rovers to do something to get back in to the game and they soon had the ball in the back of the net but the goal was disallowed for offside by the linesman. Raith manager John McGlynn soon realised things had to be changed as off came Alan Walker to be replaced by Mark Ferry. Raith soon had something to celebrate after a rather strange goal was awarded, Robert Sloan delivered the ball into the box from a corner and the wind assisted it towards the goal where David McKenna headed the ball onto the bar and out before someone deflected it back over the line only for Scott Christie to hold the ball and bring it out. I’m not sure if the ball was fully over the line or not but clearly the linesman thought it was as for the scorer that could be anyone’s guess it could have been a David McKenna own goal or a wind assisted goal for Robert Sloan.

Soon after the goal the referee was making sure he was the centre of attention as he booked Stirling’s Sean Roycroft, and former Stirling defenders Laurie Ellis and Todd Lumsden were booked for Raith.

Allan Moore soon made his first substitution of the game as hard worker Chris Hamilton was replaced by loan signing Ryan McCord. The Raith Rovers revitalisation didn’t materialise for the visitors as the Bino’s managed to hold firm and deal with the attacks. Raith had another good chance to equalise from a corner but the final shot was deflected behind by Stewart Devine for another corner. The Bino’s new signing Ryan McCord was having a good debut game as he managed to cause a few problems for the Raith defence, one of his chances came after he managed to get on the inside of the defence before hitting a shot just wide of McGurn’s goal.

Raiht were soon making their second change of the game as Gareth Wardlaw was replaced by Lee Bryce after some indecision Allan Moore also made his second change of the game as goal-scorer David McKenna made way for John Boyle.

With the match slowly coming to an end the Bino’s managed to hang on until the referee decided enough was enough and sounded the final whistle, much to the delight of the Stirling players and management as well as the home support.
It has to be said that both teams done well in the conditions and it did look like that the Binos were beginning to show some determination hopefully we can now begin to build on our current form next week against Ayr United at Forthbank.
On a final note since last week’s game was postponed I would like to wish all the supporters and everyone connected with Stirling Albion a Happy New Year and hope 2009 will be a good year for all.

Full Time: Stirling Albion 2 v 1 Raith Rovers.

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