Stirling Albion boss Alan Maybury played down concerns over his side’s squandering of leads after they surrendered another two-goal advantage on Saturday - this time in defeat at Forfar.

The Binos raced out to a two-goal lead to put them on track for the fourth round of the Scottish Cup, but in scenes reminiscent to their clash with Peterhead last month, they conceded before half-time before letting in two more.

Adam Brown’s second of the game in extra time brought the six-goal thriller to spot kicks - where Forfar keeper Marc McCallum was the hero to book the Loons a trip to Cove Rangers.

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Binos gaffer Maybury said his side blew hot and cold in their display, but insisted there was much to be satisfied about despite the result.

The Irishman said: “It’s disappointing and I thought we started the game really well and that has been our story in recent weeks, we’re really good in parts of games and then we’re just not managing them well enough.

“We were excellent for the first 30 minutes and then we give away a goal from a corner again which generally we’ve done okay with this season but is starting to sneak in over the last couple of weeks.

“They score a good goal at the start of the second half which rocks us a little but they get the goal in extra time but we felt were the stronger team in the period and got the goal back to take the game to penalties which just becomes a lottery.”

The nature of the defeat on the back of the Peterhead comeback and a comfortable 3-0 loss to Spartans has led to questions over whether there is a mental fragility creeping into the Stirling mindset.

But Maybury dismissed that - and emphasised the role of new manager Jim Weir in prompting an improved display from League Two bottom dogs Forfar.

“I don’t think so, we have some good players and you’ll not see a better goal than our second but we need to learn better about the management of games; some boys have come from different levels and sometimes it’s a bit of a battle and a scrap”, Maybury added.

“You look at the energy in their team with the new manager and the question would be where that has been all season from them, they make the big effort because of that, we knew that was coming and managed it well.

“We’ve had some really good chances in around the goal and created loads today and we had to defend as well during a proper ding-dong cup battle and we’ve just come out of the wrong side of it.”

There was little time to lick the wounds after their 120 minutes of heartache for Albion as they were straight back into action last night in a re-arranged trip to Bonnyrigg Rose.

The Rose have remained on the heels of Stirling who currently sit in fourth place, despite the Midlothian club picking up a six-point deduction for the slope on the New Dundas Park surface.

A win for the home side would bring them within just a point of leapfrogging Stirling, but a Binos win could build up a four point cushion to nearest challengers Edinburgh City and move them within two of both Peterhead and East Fife.