Stirling Albion blew away their poor league run with a three goal blitz to shock top dogs Elgin City to their first home league defeat — and left boss Alan Maybury purring.
Expectations were low for Stirling as they headed to the north-east to take on a side who had enjoyed a strong start to their season, while Stirling were licking their wounds from a 3-0 home defeat to Edinburgh City.
It looked as if it could be another tough afternoon for the Binos after they fell behind to Russell Dingwall’s penalty kick.
But the visitors blew away the cobwebs with a five-minute surge which saw Adam Brown net twice either side of a Callum Haspell own goal.
Dale Carrick then netted for the first time since late October to stretch the advantage and Stirling held on for a massive three points, despite Dajon Golding’s 74th minute goal for Elgin.
The Stirling gaffer (pictured left) was full of praise for his side’s performance — and also talked up the character of his dressing room after the Binos had been booed off following the Edinburgh defeat.
“I thought we were excellent and especially on the back of going a goal down in the game”, Maybury told Stirling Albion media manager Matt Reid.
“We took a bit of criticism for the scoreline last week and a little bit on how we were in parts of that game and we worked hard this week in training to rectify that and look more like what I want the team to look like.
“Huge credit to the boys, from some of the older ones who stood up and showed their leadership to the younger ones who gave us energy; that was much more like what I expect from the team and we could have won by a few more.”
The result brings Stirling back level on points with fourth-placed Edinburgh, with Stranraer the visitors to Forthbank this weekend.
The game could be a tense affair, with ex-Binos star Chris Aitken in the opposing dugout after a tumultuous summer in Stirling which saw Aitken offered the Forthbank hotseat before Maybury.
The Irishman is ensuring his side keep their focus and believes they need to find their consistency.
Maybury said: “I know these performances are in there, I’ve said to the boys that we’ll not get this every week but this is what we strive to in terms of attitude, energy, application and organisation, that was right at the top of what we’ve managed this season.
“We go the goal down 100 per cent against the run of play where we gift them a penalty but then the reaction is different class to go 3-1 and then 4-1, the goal makes it an exciting finish but I felt we were always in control.”