It was a sunny but chilly day as the Binos travelled to Methil in search of a third win in a row following back to back wins against Stranraer and Forfar.

East Fife had the first chance of the game on 2 minutes when a cross from Scott Shepherd evaded the Binos defence and was met by Alan Trouten.  Blair Currie was equal to it and pulled off a decent save.

The breakthrough didn’t take long to come though as the Binos took their first chance of the game on 6 minutes. A ball flicked on by Jordan McGregor was scuffed by Paul McLean but the ball broke to Robert Thomson 6 yards out and he made no mistake to fire Stirling into the lead.

Stirling were dealt a blow in the 27th minute when Kieran Moore went down injured and had to be replaced by Aaron Dunsmore.

Only 4 minutes later, and against the run of play, East Fife got their chance to equalise. Ross McGeachie slid in and took down Jack Healy and the referee awarded a penalty and also booked the Binos number 2. Alan Trouten stepped up and converted the penalty low into the corner, sending Blair Currie the wrong way. Binos manager Darren Young was also sent off from the dugout for dissent following the award of the penalty.

Stirling weren’t on level terms for long though. In first half stoppage time, some excellent work by Jack Leitch down the right allowed Robert Thomson to find Kai Fotheringham in the box.  He managed to square the ball to Dale Carrick and after a bit of a stramash in the box, got his foot to the ball while lying on the deck and fired Stirling back into the lead going into half time.

The second half was a very uneventful period with the best chance coming the way of Stirling. Some excellent pressing by Dale Carrick forced the East Fife defence into a mistake and Robert Thomson got in and rounded the keeper but fired over from a tight angle.

Full Time – East Fife 1 (Trouten pen 31’) Stirling Albion 2 (Thomson 6’, Carrick 45+2’)

The result leaves Stirling 5 points behind top of the table Dumbarton who travel to Forthbank this Saturday in a top of the table clash.

Stirling Albion: Currie, McGeachie, McGregor, McLean, Clark, Moore (Dunsmore 27’), Leitch (H.Clark 78’), Banner (Davidson 84’), Fotheringham, Carrick (Denholm 84’), Thomson.

Subs not used: Law, Cummins, Burns.