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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Stuart McFarlane

Albion manager praises 'ruthless' Stranraer performance - and sets sights on League Two summit

Stirling Albion boss Darren Young hailed his side’s deadly finishing in their 4-1 win over Stranraer as they climbed up to second in the League Two table.

But the Binos gaffer admits his side have their sights set higher - chasing down leaders Dumbarton at the head of the standings.

The Forthbank side put in a dominant display to brush aside their Galloway visitors with on-loan Dundee United teenager Kai Fotheringham notching a brace, including a strike within just four minutes.

Jack Leitch doubled the home side’s advantage before a defensive lapse allowed veteran striker Darryl Duffy to fire home on the half hour to turn up the pressure.

Fotheringham then applied a cool close-range finish to restore the two-goal cushion just five minutes later and Dale Carrick notched a fourth three minutes from the half-time break to put Albion on easy street.

Young said: “We were outstanding from start to finish. [It was] very similar to the Albion Rovers game where we played a similar style and created a number of chances but we were a bit more ruthless today.

“The opportunities came from good play up to strikers and balls in behind and a couple of great deliveries from set pieces and things we had worked on so we’re absolutely delighted.

“In the first half, we blew them away but one wee slack bit of concentration and it’s a well worked corner from their point of view and poor from our point of view.

“It was a great performance from start to finish and one that we can use to really set the standards going forward.

“We were asking the players to have more shots and more strikes on target and off the back of that you get corners and Kai gets a great strike into the top corner; it was a great start to the game and we just built on that.

“Every goal was great and a lot of it is what we speak about in training and how we aim to break teams down and get at them and everything just fell into place today. I thought we caused them all sorts of problems.”

The result jumped the Binos into second spot in the tight League Two table, with only four points separating Stirling and their next opponents Forfar Athletic, who are currently sitting in eighth.

On-loan Dundee United kid Kai Fotheringham notched a first-half double (Stirling Observer)

But Young wants his side to hunt the strong early pace-setters Dumbarton, who racked up their seventh straight win with a 1-0 victory over Bonnyrigg – a result which takes them ten clear at the top with the opening quarter of fixtures drawing to a close.

The Albion manager added: “We want to keep the gap to the top as minimal as possible and catch Dumbarton – that’s the aim and again week-by-week we can do that.

“We’re on to 11 points for the quarter and still another two games to go and another six points to go, we’ll be looking forward to Forfar away to try and pick up these points and get us closer to Dumbarton but we’ll take it a game at a time.”

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