Stirling Albion 1 East Fife 0

With the traditional season opening cup ties out of the way it was time to raise the curtain on what it’s really all about, the 2011/12 SFL Division Two campaign. Visitors to the Dunblane Doubletree Stadium this afternoon were John Robertson’s highly fancied East Fife outfit. The team from Methil are second favourites with most pundits for promotion after Brechin City. Following the Albion’s solid win up in Banff it was a disappointing and frustrating afternoon at Airdrie last time out. The hosts were the better team and deserved to win but the sending offs spoiled what otherwise was a reasonably competitive game. Against a strong and well organised East Fife team it looked set to be another tough outing. Starting XI for Stirling showed four changes from the League Cup defeat at the Excelsior. Down to the bench went Lewis Bonar, Gavin Macpherson and John Crawley while Shaun Fagan missed out altogether. Into the team came Shaun Dillon at left back, Daly McSorley and Alan Cook in midfield while Darren Smith partnered Scott Davidson in attack.

With grey skies gathering overhead and drops of rain in the air, the league season kicked off with Stirling shooting towards the Monument end of the ground. It was the visitors who were first to threaten but following a corner the final shot on goal from Bobby Linn sliced well wide of the target. The match quickly developed a very open feel as both sides looked keen on opening the season with a win. Some good link up play between Josh Flood and Darren Smith saw the former Motherwell man shoot just wide of goal from 15 yards. East Fife fans are exited about the partnership of Hearts loanee Rob Ogelby and youngster Ryan Wallace The pair combined soon afterwards and it was Wallace whose attempt was pulled well past Sam Filler’s left hand post.

Contrary to expectations the Albion were giving their highly touted visitors as good as they were getting. A superb driving run from the impressive Alan Cook saw the former Dumbarton kid fire in a shot which had Mark Ridgers at full stretch to tip over the bar. East Fife were having a few attempts of their own but most were from distance. Ryan Wallace and Lloyd Young both tried their luck from outside of the box and neither was able to bring Sam Filler into action. On-loan Falkirk attacker Scott Davidson has been Stirling’s outstanding player in the early stages of the new season. Once again he was in the middle of most good things the Albion were doing and some great skill some him cut into the box before driving weakly at Ridgers.

With the match moving on apace towards the interval it remained end to end. A horrible fankle from Brian Allison saw the skipper lose possession and Sam Filler needed to be on his toes to thwart Ryan Wallace. This is the kind of mistake Stirling need to cut out of their game and Jocky wasn’t slow to let his captain know about it. Bobby Linn curled another effort over from distance for the visitors but Stirling had the last attack of the half. Josh Flood did well to set up Alan Cook but the final shot failed to trouble Mark Ridgers. Moments later the referee was blowing for the break and so as the teams trooped off for the half-time Farleys Rusks it remained a blank scoresheet.

Half-TimeStirling Albion 0 East Fife 0

No changes from either manager as the game got underway again. Unlike in the first period it was Stirling quickest into their stride and more good play from Scott Davidson put Devon Jacobs in on goal but the energetic right back sliced his shot into the side netting. Up the other end the big figure of Robert Ogelby gathered a through ball before a neat turn and shot was well held by Sam Filler. A hopeful Josh Flood shot from distance deflected harmlessly wide of goal before former Morton man Bobby Linn saw a firm strike easily gathered by Sam Filler. At this stage in the game the visitors were perhaps having more of the ball but Stirling were looking increasingly menacing any time they broke up the park.

Alan Cook seemed to come out of nowhere in pre-season and the signs are that the lad who made his Dumbarton debut as a schoolboy, and scored against Stirling, is quickly developing into one to watch. A very direct, attacking player who likes nothing better than to run at defenders with pace and skill. Got to wonder why Dumbarton ever let him go. A drop of the shoulder from Cook saw him breeze past East Fife’s trialist right back before crossing for Darren Smith to clip a close range effort over the bar. East Fife manager John Robertson was the first to blink as he swapped Robert Sloan for the ineffective Craig Johnstone.

With one goal increasingly likely to be decisive East Fife then blew a great chance to hit the front. With the Albion defence caught out, Robert Ogelby somehow duffed a shot past the front post following a Bobby Linn cross. It was a miss the visitors would soon regret. With just under a quarter of an hour to go Stirling were the ones to get that all important opening goal. A short corner between Devon Jacobs and Alan Cook led to Cook curling in a delivery to the back post area from where Gary Thom headed into the path of SCOTT DAVIDSON, who buried the ball past a helpless Mark Ridgers. It was nearly a second when that man Davidson set Darren Smith up for a shot which was sliced wide of the keeper’s left hand post.

In the aftermath of the game’s first goal there was a quick burst of substitution activity. For Stirling Lewis Bonar and John Crawley replaced Josh Flood and Alan Cook. The visitors second switch saw Robert Ogelby hooked in favour of former Stennie man Scott Dalziel. In truth the the men from Methil never really looked liked salvaging anything from the game. Plenty of effort from John Robertson’s team but Stirling were able to snuff out any serious attacking intentions at source. Sam Filler was dealing well with high balls into his area and the Fifers were just about out of ideas. Mathew Park fired well over in the last few seconds but as the referee signalled time it was a narrow, but none the less deserved win for the Albion.

Yes, on balance some may say a draw would have been fair. However, considering how much our team has been written off, by me, by you by just about everybody it’s hard to begrudge them the win. Tremendous effort all round from Jocky Scott’s men. Good or bad it’s hard to come to any real conclusions on our chances until we’ve had half a dozen or so league games. That said the early signs are relatively encouraging. The likes of Alan Cook, Devon Jacobs, Scott Davidson and others have the ability to be good players at this level. Much more of this and perhaps we may yet be able to dream off mid-table obscurity.