Stirling Albion gained a hard-earned point at Palmerston Park as they drew 2-2 against Queen of the South.
After falling a goal behind only 6 minutes in after Alex Ferguson’s opening strike, the Binos would come back 1-1 after great link-up play between Josh McPake and Dale Carrick. The Binos would find themselves a goal behind again just after the hour mark following Josh Todd’s strike. However, Dale Carrick would rescue a point for the Binos in the dying minutes of the match.
Darren Young made two changes to the lineup which saw the Binos drawing 0-0 with Hamilton midweek, with Dale Carrick and Lewis Milne returning to the starting eleven and new signing Rudi Molotnikov making the bench.
Stirling Albion kicked off the game and two minutes later would have the first opportunity of the match as Dale Hilson got an early cross into the box which was met by Jack Leitch but it was collected by Harry Stone comfortably.
A quick breakaway on the left side of the pitch in the 6th minute allowed Lee Connelly to slide a low ball into the Binos box. It was blocked well by Paul McLean, but Alex Ferguson managed to get a foot on the rebounded ball and put the hosts 1-0 up.
Josh McPake attempted to get a goal back for the Binos in the 9th minute as he slipped past Cammy Logan but Jack Brydon did well to block the shot and clear it from danger.
In the 19th minute, Gavin Reilly would find himself one-on-one with Blair Currie and took a powerful shot on target that forced the Binos’ keeper into a save.
The Binos slowly began to find their footing in the game, and this was proven in the 27th minute when a quick breakaway from the Binos allowed Dale Carrick to release a lovely weighted pass through to Josh McPake who then went around the keeper and slotted the ball easily into an empty Queen’s net to level the scoring for the Binos.
With 38 minutes played, a penalty was awarded to Stirling after Dale Carrick was taken down by Harry Stone just inside the area as he chased down a loose pass back. Carrick attempted to fire the ball into the bottom left corner, but Stone did well to guess the right way and save the penalty.
A great passage of play from the Binos allowed Lewis Milne to deliver a ball inside the area to Jack Leitch but his attempt was blocked well by Kyle McClelland.
Half-Time: 1-1
On the 50th minute, Callum Crane made a tremendous run up the middle of the pitch after dispossessing a Queen’s midfielder. Crane then delivered a lovely ball out wide to Josh McPake, McPake then cut inside and had a shot on goal but it would go wide of the target.
15 minutes after this opportunity, a Queen’s corner couldn’t be cleared from inside the Albion box and Josh Todd fired the ball past the reach of Blair Currie, putting the hosts 2-1 up just after the hour mark.
Josh McPake again found himself through the Queen’s defence and bearing down on goal but just before he could put his laces through the ball, it would be blasted into the terraces behind the goal by the Queen’s defender, away from danger.
After a quiet 15 minutes in the game, the hosts would nearly go two goals up as Harvey Walker broke free of Ross McGeachie down the left flank and cut inside, but his shot goes wide of the right post.
On the 84th minute Rudi Molotnikov came on to the pitch, making his debut for Albion as they searched for an equaliser to salvage a point.
This goal that was sorely sought after would indeed come, as Dale Carrick scored the equalizing goal for Stirling right at the death. A corner in from Cameron Clark found Carrick inside the box who then rifled the ball into the roof of the net in the 89th minute to rescue a hard-fought point for the Binos.
In added time, Stirling were so close to scoring the winning goal, as Cameron Clark whipped in another corner which was so close to going in the Queen’s net at the back post, but it would go millimetres wide.
Full-Time: 2-2
Queen of the South: Stone, Kilsby, Cochrane, Todd, Reilly (Walker 63’), Connelly (63’), McGuffie (Gibson 70’), McClelland (McKay 70’), Ferguson, Logan, Brydon (Ambrose 30’)
Subs: Botterill, McKay, McKechnie, Mumbongo, Ambrose, Doherty, Gibson, Johnstone, Walker
Stirling Albion: Currie, McGeachie, Clark, McLean, McGregor (Banner 46’), Carrick, Leitch (Molotnikov 84’), McPake (Offord 89’), Milne, Hilson (Moore 72’), Crane (Cooper 71’)
Subs: Weir, Molotnikov, Moore, Banner, Bird, Offord, Cooper
