Stirling Albion hitman Carrick gets back on track as Binos share spoils with Annan

It was a case of what might have been for Stirling Albion at the weekend as they were held to a frustrating 1-1 stalemate with fellow new boys Annan Athletic on Saturday.

The match fulfilled the traditional cliche of a ‘game of two halves’ – with the visitors in control of much of the first half and ruing the concession of Dale Carrick’s third league goal of the season on the stroke of half time.

But the equaliser galvanised the Binos, who came out and dominated the second period, hitting both post and bar as well as fluffing other sights at goal.

The result is one that possibly suits Stirling more than their opponents at this stage as it maintains the seven-point gap between the sides in the race to avoid a relegation dog fight.

Stirling Albion boss Darren Young bemoaned the fine margins which denied his side the spoils.

He said: “We’re disappointed that we don’t win the game to be honest.

“We’ve had a lot of chances, hit the post and the bar, probably should have had one or two stonewall penalties so that’s annoying and frustrating on that front.

“We were the better team for the whole second half but for the first half an hour, they dominated us, we took a while to get going, we dropped Thommo [Robert Thomson] into a deep midfield role and it slowed down the attacks from them.

“It’s a good goal from us to score, a good ball from Murray to find Dale to score, well worked.

“There was lots of nice play from us in the second half and the only negative really is we don’t get the three points and possibly picked up another couple of injuries with Dale and Leitchy coming off.

“It’s stretching and testing us to the limit with the squad and we’ll have to see how they are.”

It has been a frustrating campaign for Stirling striker