Stirling Albion boss calls for patience as "long journey" of season continues with Elgin defeat

Stirling Albion boss Alan Maybury believes patience is the key after the Binos slipped to a narrow defeat in their League Two home opener against Elgin City on Saturday.

The Moray side came out on top thanks to Mark Gallagher’s 21st minute strike and although Stirling huffed and puffed through the second half to prise open the visitors’ defence, it wasn’t enough as Elgin made it two wins from two in the early action.

It was a disappointing follow-up after the opening day comeback win at Edinburgh City, with the Binos now facing a tricky run of fixtures against some of the league’s fancied outfits.

But Maybury insists he saw some positive signs from his squad and stressed the long nature of the season ahead after a busy summer at Forthbank.

He said: “We maybe deserved something, although did we do enough? Probably not, a lot ot hard work and effort, especially in the second half where we looked brighter and if the header goes over the line, you never know.

“I don’t think they created a lot, they created one where they’ve scored a good goal.

“In moments, we probably did what we wanted to do, but we lacked a bit of quality and decision-making at the right time. I said last week when we won that it was a long journey and we were only just at the start of it, we’ll be up and down.

“We’re delighted with those points and we’re frustrated more than anything that we didn’t get anything out of that game because our play didn’t merit getting beat.

“It just became a bit desperate and scrappy later on when we maybe just needed to keep a bit of control but it wasn’t through lack of effort from the players.”

The Stirling squad also remained stretched at the weekend, with Harley Ewen added to the list of absentees from the match in the