Dream final denied as students fall short
A combination of ill discipline and a poor first sixty minutes left Stirling dejected and out of the BUCS cup for another year. Eyeing the prospect of meeting the 2nd team in the final, the polar bears failed to produce when it mattered and will have to focus on other areas in search of their first trophy in a few years.
Stirling went into the game excited at the prospect of an all Stirling match up and were determined to make it past a Glasgow side, who they had drawn 1-1 with previously in the season. The start they made was more nightmare than dream, as Glasgow pressured from the off and forced mistakes and confusion in defence. With the game moved to the rubber crumb, due to grass pitches being unavailable, Stirling failed to adapt to their training surface and were lucky to survive the early onslaught.
While not at their best, Stirling did manage to deny any clear goal scoring opportunities with Ryan Mahoney providing a display straight from the coaching manual, in how to be a centre half. The game was scrappy with tensions developing on the park, leading to bookings on either side, with captain Jono Cooper lucky to only see yellow for retaliating with a kick after being fouled. Glasgow were threatening with continuous balls over the top to the willing runners in their strike force and support coming from midfield and it was through this that they took the lead on the half hour mark. From a Stirling throw in the corner, the ball was retrieved and a quick counter ensued. The Glasgow number 9 held the ball well, cut inside and found the supporting run of his midfielder inside the box. With Chapman spreading himself, he was left helpless as the ball was dinked over and into the net.
A lesser team may have folded at the loss of a goal and disarray in their play. Stirling however re-grouped and tried to find attacks of their own, finding feet with passes rather than the head of the Glasgow centre half, who won almost every header throughout the course of the game. Stirling almost found an undeserved equaliser just before half-time with a trademark Barker delivery clipping Crawford’s studs, hitting the post and the rebound from Mahoney was deflected over. The half-time whistle was a relief to Stirling as they went in feeling they had not done themselves justice.
After addressing issues at half time and making a change with McCall replacing Lynch, Stirling tried to come out with renewed endeavour but couldn’t seem to find their composure with Glasgow pressing high up the park and time on the ball at a minimum. Ryan Quinn was providing a threat to the Glasgow backline with his direct running with the ball and Stirling began to provide some kind of service to starved strikers Betreen and MacDougall. Stirling’s task was made harder after a moment of madness from Stevie Boyle. With a move completely out of character, Boyle reacted to a tackle by kicking out right in front of the referee and could have no complaints as the red card was produced, and Stirling were down to 10.
Stirling were coming more into the game as Glasgow relied on their quick counter attacks to try and kill the game off. Ross Chapman was forced to pull off some quality one v one saves to keep Stirling chances alive, made better by the wave of criticism coming from the three 12 year olds situated behind his goal. Changing into a 3-4-2 formation and bringing on McLean for MacDougall in a reshuffle to try and find an equaliser, Stirling pushed forward but couldn’t find a killer pass to break down the Glasgow door. On a day of few Stirling chances, it was left to Betreen to take his only clear opportunity and force the game into an energy sapping extra half hour. Another excellent ball in from Barker found an unmarked Betreen who nodded home at the front post to the delight of the 3rd team. With a few more end to end minutes including an indirect Barker free kick that was well saved, the referee called time and extra-time loomed.
With both teams beginning to tire slightly, extra-time was a scrappy affair and it was Glasgow who took advantage. After some slack defending down the right hand side, a tremendous ball was whipped in to the back post and the ball was nodded home at the back post to hand the lead back to Glasgow. Surviving the rest of the first period unscathed, Stirling came out having changed back to the 3-4-2 system and pushed on to try and find a second comeback. With the outstanding Mahoney repelling the Glasgow attacks, Stirling resorted to a Stoke-style long ball game to put the pressure on was failing to reap rewards as Glasgow’s centre half won the headers time and again. With minutes remaining Cooper was pushed forward as an unconventional 2-3-5 formation looked to get a goal. Stirling would get one late chance as the ball fell to McCall 12 yards out. With the ball at an awkward height, McCall side footed past the goalkeeper but, to the home side’s agony, onto the crossbar and as the ball went over so did Stirling’s chances of making the semi final.
Stirling put forward tremendous resilience after going down to ten men and being a goal down twice. They perhaps didn’t deserve a win on the day but can take positives from the fact they almost took the game to penalties on a day where their performance was way below the standard expected. With a crucial tie still to come in the league, Stirling showed they have the wherewithal to beat the Glasgow side and can take heart from that. Not bad for a 3rd team as they were reminded of so often during the game.
Ref’s Man of the Match: Will Barker
Players Man of the Match: Ryan Mahoney
Stirling: Chapman, Crawford, Cooper, Mahoney, Wilson, Lynch (McCall), Barker, Boyle, Quinn, MacDougall (McLean), Betreen Subs: Fraser, Flanagan, Wells
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