Stirling faced off against Montrose underneath the floodlights in a 2-0 defeat at Forthbank, with both goals coming from Graham Webster. Just one point separated the teams, with the Binos sitting in 8th place and Montrose in 5th.
Despite an energetic start by Stirling Albion, showcasing their usual fluid movement, slick passing and attempting to get some shot off early into the match, they were unable to breach the Montrose defence.
Montrose’s Kane Hester nearly opened the scoring for the hosts with a brilliant run down the right flank, narrowly missing the goal with his shot just wide of the left post. This was shortly followed by Stirling Albion’s Dale Carrick testing Montrose’s goalkeeper, who comfortably saved his ambitious shot. The game’s intensity was matched by its pace, with both teams creating and missing opportunities in quick succession.
As the game went on, Montrose made a breakthrough in the 32nd minute. Graham Webster, who sent a hard effort just outside the box that went past Blair Currie and into the Stirling Albion net to give Montrose the lead.
Montrose appeared to gain momentum and kept breaking through the Albion defence, requiring Currie to make a number of crucial stops to keep the Binos in the match.
Half-Time: 0-1
The second half of the match began in relatively slow fashion, and it wasn’t until the introduction of Callum Crane, Kieran Offord, and Josh Cooper in the 66th minute that Albion began to look like overturning the deficit and salvaging a crucial point.
In spite of this, Stirling’s attempts to score were thwarted by the Montrose defence, with Sean Dillon stealing the ball off Albion and finding his way up the other end to take a shot, but this flew high over the bar.
As the match neared its end, Montrose would kill all hopes of Albion rescuing a point from the match as Graham Webster doubled his total for the day in the 90th minute, ensuring a 2-0 victory and all three points for the visitors.
Full-Time: 0-2
Stirling Albion: Currie, Clark (Crane 66’), McLean, McGregor, Cummins, Carrick (Spence 83’), Leitch, Moore (Cooper 66’), Banner, Milne, Hilson (Wilson 79’)
Subs: White, McGeachie, Dunsmore, Wilson, Offord, Miller, Cooper, Spence, Crane
Montrose: Gill, Steeves, Quinn, Webster, Watson (Brown 61’), Hester, Dillon, Batchelor (Lyons 65’), Graham, Callaghan (78’), Machado (Shrive 61’)
Subs: Matthews, Lyons, Shrive, Craig, Brown
