Stirling Albion boss hails defence for keeping it clean in comfortable Rose win
Defence was the focus of the day for Stirling Albion boss Alan Maybury as they rode a first-half blitz to beat Bonnyrigg Rose and get their top-four hopes back on track.
The Binos had come into the match with little confidence after a poor run in the league, but showed no signs of that as goals from James Graham, Robbie McNab and Adam Brown ensured a comfortable afternoon for the hosts.
Even Josh Kerr’s first-half penalty miss played little role in a result that could have been more thorny for Rose if Albion had taken their opportunities in the second 45.
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The Binos gaffer was particularly pleased with his charges’ defensive showing - with Stirling racking up their first clean sheet in the league since the end of August.
Maybury said: “I thought we were excellent; this has been the first week we’ve had a full seven days preparation, we’ve put in the hard yards at training and it showed today.
“We were on the front foot and aggressive from the start, but played some really good football.
“The chat after last week was on conceding preventable goals but today we made a difference at the back and kept a clean sheet and that gave us a platform to go on and score some goals.
“The clean sheet has been a long time coming and it’s well deserved.”
Stirling had struggled in their two previous meetings with Bonnyrigg and a bad result could have dragged them back into the relegation mire — but the win now drags the Binos within four points of fourth-placed Edinburgh City with a game in hand.
Maybury now prepares to take his side to Meadowbank to take on his former side in a match that could prove crucial in deciding the direction of both teams.
After naming an unchanged team, the Irishman is hoping they can build up much-needed rhythm and string together positive results.
He said: “We probably haven’t matched their physicality in the previous games, so it was good to stand up to that threat and also outplay them, we want to be able to win in different ways.
“The trick is trying to get a bit of consistency, first time in a while we were naming an unchanged team and also the likes of Carrick and Harry Wright coming back offers strength off the bench.
