Stirling Albion 3 v 4 Albion Rovers 
Division 3
26th February 2003
Stirling Albion 3 v 4 Albion Rovers
Division 3
26th February 2003
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Attendance : 466
Scorers ~ Stirling Albion : Kerrigan (50), Nicholas (85), Morris (90). Albion Rovers : Diack (10), Lumsden (19), Yardley (32), Rowe (72 og).
Seven goal thriller? No sirree! This was the seven goal nail-biter - and it should never have got near that stage. Rovers’ splendid first half performance had yielded three equally excellent goals, and the game was won. Or so we thought. However, being Rovers, they decided to do things the hard way and the bottom line is that had it not been for a second half own goal by defender George Rowe, well, we might have been worse off.
Rovers started with a bang and a Chris Silvestro run took him clear of the home defenders. His final shot, however, lacked power and Chris Reid saved easily. Then a good cross by Kevin McAllister was headed back across goal by Mark Yardley and eventually scrambled away by the Stirling defenders. Nevertheless, the breakthrough was delayed only until the 10th minute when a booming clearance by goalkeeper Scott Shearer reached Iain Diack who controlled the ball well before firing a great angled shot behind Reid.
After a booking for Albion’s Andrew Smith for fouling Yardley, the substantial visiting support had more to cheer in 19 minutes as a McAllister corner from the left was met by the forehead of Todd Lumsden and the ball crashed into the net for number two. The speedy Diack was causing all sorts of problems for the home defence and he almost created another opening for himself in 22 minutes, but this time his shot was parried by Reid.
Lumsden was yellow-carded in 29 minutes before Rovers stunned the opposition by scoring again. It was almost a carbon-copy goal, but this time McAllister’s accurate corner was bulleted home by big Yardley. Three up and coasting. Nae bother!
Within five minutes of the restart, former Rover Steve Kerrigan met a cross by Smith to head-flick the ball over Shearer - and the homesters had hope. There was a bit of drama in the 57th minute when home ‘keeper Reid collapsed on the turf with no one near him. Apparently a hamstring injury had caught up with him, and he was unable to continue, Anton Nugent taking over. In the 70th minute, the new custodian did well to turn a Yardley header over the crossbar before Rovers had a scare at the other end. Lumsden was short with a pass-back and Shearer had to advance to kick the ball away from Nicholas. Still well out of his goal, the ‘keeper then held David O’Brien’s shot.
In the 72nd minute, a cross by Jered Stirling was missed/dummied (you make up your mind!) by Yardley and Rowe could only bundle the ball over his own line for number four. That was it. We were home and dry. Only we were not. With nine minutes remaining, Shearer turned a good Nicholas shot for a corner and we prepared to play out the remaining time. However, Stirling had other ideas and a couple of dreadful examples of slack defending allowed Nicholas (85) and Morris (90) to reduce the leeway to a single goal. When referee Hunter’s whistle eventually blew, the sheer relief on the faces of the visitors was evident.
The result’s the thing - of course, but this was just a bit too close for comfort.
Stirling Albion : Reid (A Nugent 57), P Nugent, Smith, McNally, Rowe, McGeown, Dunn, Morris, Kerrigan (McLellan 76), Nicholas, O’Brien. Unused Subs : Hay, Wilson, Munro.
Albion Rovers : Shearer, Dick (Paterson 67), Stirling, Smith, Cormack, Lumsden, McAllister (McCaig 78), Silvestro, Yardley, Diack (Bradford 72), Mercer. Unused Subs : McLean, Fahey.
Referee : Andrew Hunter.
Man of the Match : Iain Diack
