Stirling Albion boss aims to find the positives after sinking to comfortable Inverness cup defeat

It was cup defeat for Stirling Albion in the Highlands on Saturday – but Binos boss Alan Maybury insists his side will learn from the fine margins of their 3-0 defeat to Inverness.

The SPFL Trust Trophy clash at the Caledonian Stadium looked a tough assignment and so it proved to be, despite the hosts not breaking the deadlock until almost half an hour into the game courtesy of former Celtic youngster Adam Brooks.

Brooks added a fortunate second from a deflected free kick before the break – and Adam MacKinnon added gloss to the scoreline in the second half as Stirling tumbled out of the competition at the third round stage.

Despite the comfortable scoreline, Maybury believes his side showed what they are capable of against League One opposition and spoke up the positives as the Binos square up to Peterhead on league business this weekend.

“I thought for half an hour we were good, the shape was good. They had the ball but in areas where they didn’t hurt us and we looked a threat ourselves,” Maybury told Stirling Albion media manager Matt Reid.

“When they scored their first goal, it came after our best spell of pressure and it’s just a lesson for us about switching off for a moment, a throw in our half, two or three passes later, it’s in our net.

“We needed a positive reaction after that, we know the first goal is important in these games, we lost our way for the next ten minutes and they get their bit of fortune with the free-kick hitting off someone in the wall and goes the other way to Gats.

“The third goal was a bit of a sucker punch, but there were moments in that second half where we looked like we could get something out of the game.”

The tie saw the return of Hearts youngster Bailey Dall to the pitch after missing