4th November 2017 Edinburgh City v Stirling Albion 1-2

With Hearts not playing till tomorrow I had to decide where to go today. I had thought about going to watch Edinburgh University v Edusport Academy but decided to go to Ainslie Park (again!) for Edinburgh City v Stirling Albion. As the game at Edinburgh University ended 5-3 to the home side it was maybe I did not make the best choice. Again I walked to the game and covered the three miles in less than an hour. I paid £6 to get in after showing my Hearts season ticket and bought a programme for £2.50. The City programme is really good with a lot of reading in it. Maybe it is better for a neutral who is reading new information than a City fan but content is interesting to a football fan.

Stirling Albion are currently top of League Two, two points ahead of Montrose in second place. However in recent weeks things have not being going too well with a home defeat last week to Stenhousemuir and a shock Scottish Cup exit to East of Scotland League Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale a couple of weeks previously. In the latter game Stirling went one up before losing five goals. A couple of late goals brought the score back to 5-3 but the 'Bino's' went out of the cup. Despite the Stirling have some of the top scorers in League One with Darren Smith on ten goals and Hearts loanee Callumn Morrison on seven prior to todays game.

City lined up in their normal 3-5-2 formation or is it 5-3-2. Whatever you want to call it the key players in this formation are the wing-backs. City used Andrew Blake, on a development loan from Hibs, and Chris McKee, one of the few survivors from their non-league days in these roles. The main change however was up front where City fielded Scott Shepherd, an emergency loanee from Falkirk and a trialist, who I later learned was ex-Hibs and Falkirk striker Farid El Alagui. I knew I had seen him before but could not remember who he was.  A sign of advancing years ?

The game started with City on top and the front two looked a lot more mobile than the Beattie/Grimes partnership I had seen previously. Shepherd had an early chance from a through ball well saved by Cammy Binnie in the Albion goal. After fifteen minutes El Alagui headed a ball down to Shepherd on the edge of the box. He took a touch and then fired a shot into the top corner of the net to put City ahead. This was City's first goal in their fourth game under James McDonaugh's management. Shortly after the goal El Alagui had a shot blocked on the line by a Stirling defender. Albion came more into the game after this and in thirty-eight minutes equalised when a Morrison cross took a deflection of a City defender and Ross Kavanagh headed home. If you want to know which defender the ball deflected off I could not tell you as I was blinded by the setting sun in the southern half of the pitch.

In the second half Stirling started well and following a defensive error Kavanagh crossed to Morrison who shot past Antell from the edge of the six yard box. Throughout the second half the Stirling choir were in full voice. They did not seem to like Falkirk and were unenthusiastic about the City support. However with a 'crowd' of 421 what do you expect. City continued to press for an equaliser but seemed to lack a cutting edge. Craig Thomson was having a good game in midfield and sent in a number of telling passes but the finishing touch was not there. Craig must have been glad to stay on the pitch as the last two times I had seen City he had been sent off ! Karim Belmokhtar came on as a late substitute in an effort to change the game but to no avail.

After the game I walked up to Ferry Road but on arriving at the stop found I had ten minutes to wait for next 27. I walked to Crewe Toll and caught a 113 to the West End then a 22 home. Arrived home in time to see Liverpool humiliate West Ham on BT Sports.

Teams
Edinburgh City: Antell, Blake, Morrison, Harrison, Rodger, McKee, Thomson, Walker, Laird, Trailist, Shepherd.
Subs: Hall, Malin, Belmokhtar
Stirling Albion: Binnie, Hamilton, McGeachie, McNeil, Noble, Black, Morrison, Caddis, Kavanagh, Smith, Dickson.
Subs: McLaughlin