A fourth draw in a row lifted us off the foot of the table at Brechin City’s expense as Cowdenbeath’s six-game winning streak in League 2 ended on a cold night at Forthbank.
Stirling had more of the play, and the chances, but had to settle for a point against Gary Bollan’s team, who beat us 1-0 at Central Park back in August. This game was due to be played on Saturday but was moved to midweek due to Cowden’s Scottish Cup round-two replay with Broxburn, which they surprisingly lost 3-0 at Albyn Park.
Binos boss Kevin Rutkiewicz made one change to the team that beat Strathspey Thistle in our last outing on October 19, with Darryl Duffy replacing Lewis Hawke. Dylan Mackin returned to the squad but Dylan Bikey, Josh Peters, Jordan Lowdon, Gareth Rodger and Craig Truesdale were all ruled out.
Cowdenbeath almost went ahead inside two minutes when Kris Renton struck the post at the end of a slick move. Teenage full-back Kyle Sneddon later blazed over from a good position but for most of the game we limited the visitors to few clear-cut chances.
Albion had more than a dozen corners and some good opportunities but we failed to make any of them count, although defender Paul McLean came close with a header from David Wilson’s delivery.
On-loan Hibs keeper Kevin Dabrowski denied Sean Heaver on a couple of occasions and Max Wright should have done better after being picked out by fellow substitute Paul Willis.
Both teams had second-half penalty appeals waved away by referee Mike Roncone and Jordan McGregor had a shot blocked following a corner late on, as it ended goalless between the teams with the best defensive records in League 2.
We are now six games unbeaten in all competitions and have kept four clean sheets during that period but five goals scored in 10 league games tells its own story.
Stirling Albion: Currie, McGeachie, Creaney (Willis 46), Thomson, McLean, McGregor, Jardine, Nicoll, Heaver (Wright 70), Wilson, Duffy (Mackin 89). Subs (not used): Binnie (GK), Banner, Docherty, Hawke.
Cowdenbeath: Dabrowski, Sneddon (Thomas 77), Todd, Hamilton, Barr, Miller, Cox (Allan 81), Buchanan, Smith, Renton, Swann. Subs (not used): Whyte (GK), Pyper, Valentine, Taylor, Pollock.
Referee: Mike Roncone
Crowd: 451
