Robin Bairner Column – Part 6

The Christmas period was proving to be an important spell in a campaign which saw the Binos languishing near the foot of the 1^st Division. After a hugely impressive run of results in the second half of the previous season hopes were high of another relatively comfortable escape.

At the time of this game Raith were going fairly well and had just got top scorer Keith Wright back from a couple of weeks out injured. It was the former Hibs goalscorer and now Cowdenbeath manager who scored the goals that put Raith 2-0 and easily in the driving seat after just 24 minutes. Both goals came from crosses from the left and both were expertly put past Mark McGewon.

This seemed to shake Stirling out of their Yuletide lethargy but a goal was needed before half time to have any real chance of winning the game. This came from Neil Bennett virtually with the last kick of the first half as he met an Alex Bone cutback and drove the ball low into the corner of Guido Van Der Kamp’s near post.

The Albion came out for the second half with a volley of attacks and had managed to pull themselves level within quarter of an hour. A free kick won on the right hand side of the park which the mercurial Laundry Zahani-Oni whipped into the box. Gavin Price got his “head” to it and knocked it past the big Dutchman in the Raith goal. There was huge protests as Van Der Kamp chased the referee back to the centre circle claiming hand ball, much to the amusement of the Albion following.

At this stage there was only going to be one team that won the game and Andy Paterson’s thirty yard free kick which flew into the top corner was a goal that deserved to win any game. With only 5 minutes left to play Stirling held on relatively comfortably and could enjoy the highlights on Scotsport the next day.

Unfortunately, the season ultimately ended in failure when the Binos’ place in the First Division was lost and Kevin Drinkell resigned as manager signalling the end of an era at Stirling Albion.