Jubilant Stirling Albion boss Darren Young hailed his title winners as the best he’s ever worked with and says the league win has put the Binos back where they belong.
The Binos have won promotion to League One after notching their 18th game unbeaten with the decisive 3-1 win over Annan – yet another comeback success in a season where that spirit became the Forthbank side’s trademark.
For a while, it looked like being a nervy afternoon for most of the 1,432 inside the ground, especially after the play-off hunting visitors took the lead through Chris Johnston.
But an instant response a minute later via an own goal put Stirling on track for glory at half-time and they sealed the league in style with second-half strikes from Jack Leitch and Flynn Duffy.
The Albion gaffer hailed his side’s resilience once again and expressed his delight at matching the unbeaten record of Allan Moore, the last manager to secure silverware for Stirling.
A delighted Young said: “It’s absolutely brilliant and I’m delighted for everyone – the fans, players and everyone at the club. That’s 18 games unbeaten and that’s equalled Moorey’s record so I’m delighted to get that and the title as well.
“It was a bit of a dodgy start, a nervous start but at the same time, the players showed their character and desire. We had a few guys injured but others step up to the plate and put on a performance like that.
“I’m delighted to get it over the line and now we can enjoy ourselves.
“We’ve had our ups and downs through the season like everyone else but we stuck at it; they’re a great bunch of boys and one of the strongest squads I’ve ever managed and it’s been a pleasure to work with them.”
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Young laughed that the latest success would have his card marked as a League Two expert, but stressed he’s keen to establish the Binos at a level which he believes the club deserves to be at.
He added: “It’s brilliant for everyone connected with the club, it’s been a while and it was one of the things that was spoken about before the season about how they hadn’t been in League One for about eight or nine years.
“It’s a massive club and you can see that all through the season as the performances got better and we got closer to the top, the fans came out in their numbers.
“It’s right up there for me in my managerial career. I was having a joke with my brother before the game about how every time I’ve been in League Two I’ve won – as a player with Alloa, player-manager with Albion Rovers and now won it as a ‘proper’ manager.
“It’s great for my whole coaching staff and to do it the way we have with a 19 point swing and having three or four games missed and playing catch-up again, once we got ahead we just got that feeling with the squad and the togetherness we had.”
