Stirling boss hails dominant opening day display as Binos pass Edinburgh test

Daily Record

4 days ago

The Binos could have racked up more goals at Meadowbank - before a late spot kick award made things nervous in the closing moments.
It was the ideal start to league business for Stirling Albion — and the Binos boss believes his side could have racked up the goals in a dominant opening day showing in the capital.
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Russell McLean's early double had the visitors on easy street inside 20 minutes against Edinburgh City and they could have added to that margin considerably with a number of chances throughout a classy opening 45 at Meadowbank.
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An improvement from the Citizens in the second half following a half-time roasting from boss Michael McIndoe prompted a slight improvement – and a last-gasp Robbie Mahon strike prompted some nervous scenes in the closing moments for the Stirling faithful.
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But, in the end, it was a thoroughly deserved three points to assauge any concerns from a lacklustre League Cup section and build some optimism ahead of the home league opener against Annan Athletic this weekend.
Stirling boss Alan Maybury told the Observer: 'We should have won the game 5-0 or 6-0, I think. We scored two in the first half, one disallowed, hit the post and two one-on-ones we should've done better with.
'Even in the second half, the keeper has made a few good saves but for whatever reason, they've ended the game quite young and it gave them some energy but we were comfortable defending our box and they didn't really open us up.
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'Out of nowhere, the referee saw something at a corner which I'm not sure anyone else did and it made things a little nervy at the end.
'But for the most part, we knew how we could hurt them and I think we did well in those areas.'
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The headlines for the Binos post-match focused on two forwards, past and present for the Binos – with the news of fan favourite Dale Carrick's departure for League One Stenhousemuir calmed slightly by the impressive showing from new man McLean.
Carrick moved on to the Binos' Forth Valley neighbours late last week after four years with the club, where he scored 54 times in 159 appearances – including taking the crown as the League Two Player of the Year in 2023 after helping Albion to promotion.
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'Russell has been really good since he's come in and I obviously had him here [Edinburgh] as well', Maybury continued.
'He's a handful and was difficult to play against last year and so it proved today for their defence – he was probably unfortunate not to get a hat-trick.
'We've had to let a few go this week in order to get a better balance to the squad.
'With Dale, he got an opportunity to move back to League One; he's been a brilliant servant to this club, he scored so many goals and has been really good in the year or so I've been here.
'He's a good guy who trains well and always works hard, there's never any trouble and that's what I said when I spoke to him, I wished him well for the future and that he deserved to take the chance to move back up a level.'