Robin Bairner Column – Part 2

Date – 26^th September 2001
Venue – Forthbank Stadium
Competition – CIS Insurance Cup, Round 2
Result – Stirling Albion 2-1 St Mirren
Kick Off – 7.45pm

Going into this game no-one really gave Third Division Albion too much of a chance against a St Mirren side who had just been relegated from the SPL and had just secured the signing of Christopher Wreh, a former squad layer at Arsenal. The Binos had already knocked out opposition in a higher league a couple of weeks earlier in the shape of Cowdenbeath, who lost 3-1 to an Alex Williams hat-trick.

Williams would once again prove influential in the outcome of this game as St Mirren pounded Chris Reid’s goal early on but could not find a way through in the first five minutes. By the time Angolan Jose Quitongo tapped in after the Stirling defence had ripped apart it looked very much like it could be a rout. St Mirren had their chances to extend their lead before Alex Williams latched onto a Gareth Munro through ball and finished in style with a superb lob over Ludovic Roy from the far corner of the box.

The second half was a siege on the Albion goal with Chris Reid I outstanding form to prevent McGarry, Yardley and Quitongo, once again, giving the Paisley side a lead that would surely have proved crucial. McGarry had seen an effort crash off the cross bar earlier but it was him who supplied the ball to Yardley. The big striker looked set to seal Saints place in the 3^rd Round but somehow his header from 6 yards was blocked and his follow up was spooned well over the bar.

Albion were still struggling to hold on at this stage and even reaching extra time would have been considered some achievement. But extra time was not to be required. A hopeful punt was gamely chased by Michael Geraghty, and it was his presence that forced Scott Walker into a back header which fell short. Gareth Munro nipped in and the young midfielder, who had previously only stated two games and who had never scored a top team goal, showed great composure to fire the ball past Roy. The few hundred Albion fans went absolutely ballistic.

Munro scored in the 88^th minute which meant that the last two minutes felt like two hours. But Stirling held on right to the end to set up a Third Round game with Celtic. Unfortunately, that game did not go so well as the Albion went down by eight to a rampant home side. However bad Stirling played that day, the two games that went before it in the same competition will always be remembered as beacons in Ray Stewart’s less than impressive stint in charge of the club.