Glenvale 0 Stirling 3

McLean magic ensures solid win, with missed chances galore.



Stirling secured a comfortable win to extend their 100% record in Saturday football. Coming off the back of a good win against Wasps the previous week, and facing a team second bottom of the league, could have been a recipe for complacency, but this was addressed, and stamped out by coach Raleigh Gowrie, in the absence of Tommy Craig who was on international duty.

Stirling lined up much changed from the previous week but gelled well from the start on a pitch which was not favourable to those who wished to stand up. Early possession was controlled by Stirling with MacLaughlin holding the ball up well and releasing to the supporting midfield. Stirling couldn’t quite find a way past as a combination of good blocks and indecision left chances gone while Glenvale began to threaten on the counter although they struggled to get past the formidable partnership of Cooper and Mahoney, again the base on which Stirling can build an attacking force.



Stirling horse and defensive stalwart



Stirling finally got past the barricades with MacLaughlin putting the students ahead. With Quinn’s corner cleared to the edge, McLean remained composed and fed it back out wide. Quinn found the perfect cross to leave MacLaughlin to ease the defender away and head past the unfortunate keeper. The lead was almost relinquished straight away however as slack play let in the Glenvale number 9. A ball in between Crawford and Cooper was taken nicely away from Cooper’s attempted block, but the striker lost his composure and dragged wide when it looked easier to finish.



Stirling took this let off as they should and pushed forward for a second which duly arrived through man-of-the-match Jamie McLean. Receiving the ball wide on the right, McLean beat the first man and squared up the second. Jinking onto his right foot, a rasping strike whistled high past the keeper at his near post and gave Stirling a cushion approaching half-time. Two more chances arrived for Stirling before the break but neither were taken. Both came from typical whipped Barker deliveries, the first of which Cooper cracked the crossbar with and Mahoney couldn’t direct the rebound home. The final action came from Barker’s free-kick which came straight onto Crawford’s head, unfortunately the header was too close to the keeper who tipped over the bar and the score remained 2-0 at half-time.



Encouraged by the chances they had created, Stirling came out in the second half looking to continue where they left off. The midfield four were nullifying the Glenvale threat and Stirling looked particularly dangerous in the wide areas, with Quinn and McLean direct in their play getting past their marker time and again. Stirling added a third soon after the break with some lovely passing football. With a variety of players involved down Stirling’s left the final cross was zipped in by Quinn and powered home by Stirling midfield engine to make the points safe early in the second half. The final dangerous moment for Stirling came shortly after as the Glenvale striker got into the 18 yard box but Brodie covered superbly to make 2 brilliant blocks and the ball was cleared to safety.



Man of the Match and photogenic Jamie McLean



The remainder of the game was a tale of missed chances as Stirling could have racked up a cricket score by the end up. Soon after making it 3, Stirling had a penalty appeal turned down after a tackle on McLean. With even the Stirling players doubtful, McLean was adamant and without the duo of Keys and Gray around anymore to analyse these things, Stirling will take his word for it and be outraged at the decision. Ryan Lynch came off the bench, and brushed off some glowing compliments from the Glenvale side about his choice of hair-do, to play on the right pushing McLean into the middle alongside Barker. These two were combining to put the strikers through on the Glenvale keeper but they couldn’t beat the impressive stopper who kept the score respectable for the Cumbernauld side. Charles Owusu made his first appearance of the new semester replacing an injured Crawford and looked bright, although a careless tackle could have been a lot worse than just incurring the wrath of the Glenvale players. By the finish Barker, McLean, Lynch, Betreen, MacLaughlin all had chances to add to the scoreline but the balloon provided by Glenvale refused to cross the goal line a fourth time. The referee blew for full-time to give Stirling a deserved victory even if the scoreline didn’t reflect their superiority on the day.

Stirling did well to cope with a potentially tricky game, staying clear of nearby motorways, Glenvale substitutes having a sly smoke at the side and a pitch which was more brown than green by the end, to keep their good form up from before Christmas and can now look forward to a massive game on Wednesday in the knockout round of the cup against a Glasgow Caledonian 1’s who Stirling drew 1-1 with earlier in the season.

Man of the Match- Jamie McLean

Stirling- Harkness, Crawford (Owusu), Cooper, Mahoney, Brodie, McLean, Barker, Bews (Lynch), Quinn, Betreen, MacLaughlin Subs: Chapman