Decent opening performance from City today. It's great to get off on a good start for once, I can't remember the last time we won on the opening day of the season.

Can I first of all say, the referee and his linesmen were absolutely awful.

It was pretty even in the first half. Byers was absolutely magnificent in the centre of the park but he was often guilty of taking the whole team on (which he almost did at one point).

Good to see Gary Twigg getting off the mark, bundling the ball over the line after a bit of a goalmouth scramble.

Nelson proved he is the best keeper in the league with a string of amazing saves which kept the score level, just after he looked to be going off injured.

Stirling scored with a freak goal when the ball deflected off Davie White and it looked as if Nelson had saved that as well as the initial Ian Harty volley, but according to the linesman it went over the line. There weren't many shouts from the Stirling fans and even though I was at the other end I wasn't convinced.

That was just the start of some really dodgy decisions from the officials. A Brechin player is given offside from a throw in , then the referee gives a drop ball . Also Iain Diack at one point completely sliced his cross over the stand yet we were given a corner. He constantly stopped the game for petty fouls and gave out too many bookings.

The winner came five minutes from the end and it was worth the wait. Darren Smith cutting inside his marker before curling the ball past Hogarth and into the far corner, superb.

Best for City was Craig Nelson, Darren Smith, Kevin Byers and Iain Diack.

I have little to add except thank you Brechin for helping to complete an EXCELLENT days gambling

PS - Naw, you can't have Hampshire back!

What about Norfolk? Not as nice as Hampshire, but it's got some seaside resorts.

Most of the game was pretty even, but for the last 5 mins of the first half and first 15 or so of the second half Stirling absolutely pummelled the Brechin goal. Yes, the goal itself looked dodgy, but we must have had 7-8 shots on target (not just trundlers either) in that time and really should have scored at least the 2 we needed to put us into the lead. After that it looked like both teams had settled for a draw but a little bit of slackness in closing down on the edge of the box lead to Brechin's winner.

Overall it was a reasonably encouraging performance from us with some good attacking moves. With some good finishing the scoreline would have been comfortably in our favour, but that's the problem we've had since early last season.

when you say dodgy do you mean it was never in? or just very debatable... was at other end so obv couldn't tell, but don't think there was any appeal from stirling players for the goal.

I don't know - Nelson's body was in the way. Must admit my first reaction was that it hadn't crossed the line, and as you say none of the Stirling players celebrated which is usually pretty telling.

The ball didn't look over the line.

We had enough chances in the 15 minutes after half-time to win 3 matches. As I said on the Binos' site, we actually played quite a good deal better than I expected us to.

City exposed our weakness in the full-back areas. David Lowing is absolutely pish

Ive watched the video of our goal closely and i believe Nelson's feet were over the line, the ball bounces up and hits him on the chest and then rebounds outwards. No stirling players shout for a goal not even Ian Harty who is lying on the touchline and in line with the ball. The video cannot give a clear answer. Its close to being over, but whether the whole ball was over, the video cannot tell.

A reminder that the highlights of this match in line with SFL rules will be online on the Official Stirling Albion Website from around 5pm on Sunday.

I didn't think it was in and turned to go round the back of the stand after getting ma peh(s), then all the Stirling fans started cheering. I turned back thinking something had kicked off and the ref had given a penalty. How fackin bemused was I when I realised a goal had been given

The offside was farcical - I couldn't believe that a linesman would make such a basic mistake and that the ref would blow for the offside as Twigg was showing the Stirling defence a clear pair of heels. Then the ref realised he'd facked it up and gave a drop ball.

Our second was a peach; I was standing a few yards up from the segregation gate and was pretty much in line with Smith and Hogarth's far post as he struck his shot. Fair bit of swerve on it and left Hogarth with little chance.

Several saves in quick succession by Nelson showed he's continuing his outstanding form for us

No complaints. Our goal was never a goal but we still missed enough chances to win three games. That said the Brechin winner was a cracker and over the 90 minutes we didn't do enough. Thought the game was lost when Grehan and Harty were taken off as they were running the City defence ragged. If Moore thinks our two best forwards can't manage 90 minutes then he needs to get them fitter.

As an aside an early season contender for the worst tannoy announcer in Division 2 goes to Brechin. Think he must have been at the sauce before the game. Several cries of "Testing testing 1-2" were followed by silence. He eventually read out the teams after the game kicked off and his announcing of the substitutions was half baked....it wasn't you was it 'Steve

Don't say we didn't warn you!

Will this be in place for all visiting teams at Brechin this season? And where is it?

Mind you, so was Chris Aitken today.

Our goal was never a goal and if I had been a City fan, I would have been well pissed off. The offside from a throw in was so basic, it was funny (well from our point of view). We created a good few chances and Neilson pulled off some good saves, whilst City scored a cracking winning goal. I went away from the game, somehow happy as we played better than I thought we would! I thiunk we will do ok in this league this season, but we need to get picking up the points early for the teams confidence!

The gates were open.

I was behind said goalmouth and the ball was never in! FACT! No wonder a couple of our players were booked for their protests. Not one of the Stirling players celebrated and play continued for about 10 seconds or so before the twat of a linesman decided in his wisdom that it was a goal. Do these people get compulsory eye tests every so often? If not then they should. Off-side at a throw in. Christ get a grip of a rule book!

Any way, rant over. A very good win to-day and well deserved. I thought that Brechin were the better of the two teams on the day. Sorry to see Ward go off injured. Hope he is okay for Wednesday night. Well done boys!

Fortunately not, although to be fair we've been looking for a tannoy announcer so maybe that was his first day. Can't be that hard to read out a bloody teamsheet though. We were also treated to a bit of mid-game music a couple of minutes in.




Trust me if it was a draw or worse we would have been here absolutely seething at the decision. Just feel sorry for Nelson who deserved a clean-sheet today (technically kept one) after his heroics.

They were asking for a volunteer for the announcers job in the programme the other week. I doubt that the lad has had any time to figure out how to work the tannoy yet.

Good day out yesterday. Cracking wee pub (Hudsons), good to meet Pollymac (drinks are on me next visit), and a reasonably good game of football that was for the most part pretty even, but I've no real grumbles about the final score.

Our goal was never a goal. I thought the ref was blowing for a penalty for some reason, and the next thing is our players are celebrating. Extremely bizarre. In fact, the officiating was downright atrocious yesterday, for both teams.

Ah well, onwards to Arbroath on Wednesday.

Image shamefully bumped from redweb.

It's even less debatable than I thought.

Bring your own Becks next time though??

Back to talking about the game, I thought Diack and Twigg worked very well together. Both of them looked quite strong and out-muscled and out-paced the Stirling defence a few times. I wonder what sort of side it will be when Nimmo is back. I can't see nim, D. Smith or King being dropped in a month of Sundays, and I don't think we can play both Nimmo and D. Smith in the centre of the park without someone like Janczyk to do the defensive work.

Shocking


This was before the apparent goal. We don't have the exact moment but after this image David White knocks it back to Nelson who scoops it off the line...err...or so most of us thought.

It helps when every effort we had on target was hit straight at him.

We should have had the game won in the 20 minutes after half time. Missed 4 or 5 clear chances in that period. Moore taking off Grehan and Harty was the turning point. Thought we were in control of the game until then and definitely didn't look like losing.

Have to also add that for that 'double save' Nelson had, if he had caught the cross instead of stupidly trying to punch it in the first place, he wouldn't have had to make the saves.

Still the best keeper in the league, however.

is that not the point when white hits it though? doubt nelson would be much further back than that in the space of time

Think King will be dropped; Byers, Janzck, Nimmo, D Smith midfield with Diack and Twigg up front; these two look our best option up front. If Ward is hurt then Seeley will do okay with White - which I think will happen on Wednesday just to make sure Ward does no long term damamge. A good start but always look better when we are playing at pace instead og getting bogged down with neat little passes.

Match Video is now on the Stirling Albion Official Website

I think the question is, was the ball anywhere near the line? Never mind over it.

Loving the shout when the ref awards the goal, "WHAT THE f**k!"

White knocks the ball against Nelson's chest. The linesman must have judged that the Brechin keeper was behind the line

not exactly refs fault... he went over to consult the linesman and obv the linesman has said it was in rather than admit hes cocked up...
now for the shout of goal line technology...

or had a draw/ stirling win in sweepie

He probably felt we deserved a goal and took pity on us

I have no words for that. Unbelievable. Nice one linesman, you utter knob.

Be fair, the one on the other side gave offside from a throw-in.

You're right, I shouldn't be biased. Both linesmen are utter knobs.

The video makes it look an even worse decision than it looked from behind the goals.

Utter shocker.