Date – 25th September 2002
Venue – Forthbank Stadium
Competition – CIS Insurance Cup, Round 2
Result – Stirling Albion 2-3 Heart of Midlothian
Kick Off – 7.45pm As I entered Forthbank that night I remember feeling a special buzz that’s around on special Cup nights. Unfortunately, this wasn’t quite one of the great night’s in Stirling Albion’s history but had Lady Luck been on the Binos’ side the 3000 odd inside Forthbank would have witnessed a great cup shock. Stirling played towards the Forth end of the ground in the first half and, surprisingly, it only took them a couple of minutes to register. And what a goal it was. Stevie Mallan picked up the ball deep inside his own half and fed it to Paul Hay in the centre circle. The midfielder then cheekily back healed the ball back to the onrushing Mallan who switched the ball to Robert Dunn. The chance looked to have gone when the wee wingers first touch was poor but he recovered and swung a tremendous ball into the box onto which Mallan’s head connected to power the ball past Roddy McKenzie. This seemed to shake the Jambos and almost immediately they were putting pressure on the Stirling defence, in fact, it only took nine minutes for the Edinburgh side to draw level. A corner from the right was headed back across goal by the free scoring De Vries and Northern Irishman Andy Kirk left Chris Reid with little chance with a rocket header from 4 yards out. From a Stirling point of view it could have all gone horribly wrong from there but the team kept their heads held high and fought their way back into the game. Stevie Mallan and, in particular, Stevie Nicholas’ direct running were causing the Hearts defence all kinds of problems. It was Nicholas who got on the end of a sweeping move but from twelve yards he couldn’t connect properly and the ball trickled into McKenzie’s hands. This was a real let off for Hearts who hit the front just before half time. Paul Nugent, who had an outstanding match that night, was very harshly adjudged to have used his hands to control the ball twenty yards out but Frenchmen Jean Louis Valois was in no mood to let Stirling off lightly as he inflicted maximum punishment by curling a superb free-kick into the top left hand corner of Reid’s goal.
Again the timing of the goal was a body blow but four minutes into the second half Stirling were once again level. Stevie Nicholas latched onto a woeful pass back from McKenna, took the ball around McKenzie and slotted home from a ridiculously acute angle. At this Hearts seemed to panic a bit and the game was much more even. But it was Hearts who managed to nick themselves ahead again. De Vries, who had been restrained extremely well by the Stirling defence, got an inch in the box and turned away from Hay who put in a valiant challenge but only succeeded in bringing the big Dutchman down in the box. Steven Pressley battered the ball into the corner of the net to give Stirling another mountain to climb. However , the Binos were clearly in the mood for it as they forced a succession of corners towards the end of the match in a desperate attempted to find an equaliser that their endeavor and play had so richly deserved . But football can be a cruel game and the third proved illusive. Allan Moore said at the end of the match it was disappointing to lose from three set pieces, and it was. Stirling had played much of the football and Nicholas in particular was in outstanding form that night. Had the break gone to the men in red then perhaps it would’ve been a different story but we will never know. In hindsight this game really seemed to give the team a lift which saw them going on that excellent run of five wins seeing off Gretna, Queen’s Park, Morton, Albion Rovers and Peterhead. Three of the top four teams in the league last year were included in that run but lets hope this year the momentum can be continued long into the season. | 