Marauding defender Jack Harkness believes his role on the Stirling right is a perfect fit — and put the Binos fans on notice that he plans his first goal for the club to not be his last.
The Rangers loanee got on the end of a cross from opposite wing-back Callum Crane to give Stirling a crucial two-goal cushion against Elgin on Saturday, helping secure an important bounce-back three points against the promotion play-off contenders.
His goal was part of a quickfire first-half double from the home side after Dale Hilson had nodded in from close range to make his return to the side.
The visitors then blew a vital opportunity with Russell Dingwall’s spot kick and were punished when Adam Brown added to his personal goal-of-the-season category with a 25-yard curler.
A late Elgin consolation elicited some nervous looks – but the home side held on to move back up into fifth in the league table.
Harkness, 20, netted against Bo’ness United for Rangers B during their time in the Lowland League, but his composed goal was his first in the SPFL ranks.
He said after the match: “I feel it’s been getting closer and closer over the recent games so I’m buzzing with that to get involved and that it’s finally happened.
“I think it’s a role that suits me because I’m quite attacking as a player and I get up and down the pitch.
“We get a lot of success with Callum and me getting forward from the full-back spots; I remember we scored against Peterhead like that, so if we play the style of play that we’re meant to play then we’ll get our fair share of results.”
Man-of-the-match Harkness also touched on the Binos’ inconsistency all season and the importance of delivering in front of the home fans after being booed off following midweek defeat to Spartans in their last Forthbank outing.
“We owe the fans to perform well, especially when we’re at home so Tuesday night wasn’t ideal and it wasn’t what we wanted but to bounce back and play like that shows that we have something about us”, Harkness continued.
“In this league, some games are different from others but that performance was the same as Bonnyrigg here so you can see that we can play that type of football so it’s about working hard to get it right.
“It’s brilliant to be in the team and the gaffer has been really good with me – I was injured for a full year and struggled a bit to start with just with the fitness, but now I feel like I’m there so happy to be getting the game time every week.
“I just want to get my numbers up, I feel like I’ve tried to create but the numbers aren’t quite what I want but that’s two in recent games now, an assist at Edinburgh and a goal today so just want to keep going.”