Stirling held as Warriors grab point at Forthbank

STIRLING Albion could only pick up a solitary point from one of their four games in hand on Second Division leaders Alloa with Stenhousemuir leaving Forthbank with a share of the spoils following a 1-1 draw.

The result means Allan Moore's men have moved seven points behind Alloa, however watching Recreation Park manager Allan Maitland would have feared that their advantage was going to be reduced further when Stirling took an early lead in fine style.

Chris Aitken opened the scoring in just six minutes when he fired a free-kick from 25 yards out high into the Stenhousemuir goal leaving visiting goalkeeper Chris McCluskey helpless.

Gary Thom headed in unmarked from a corner four minutes from half-time to level and Albion goalkeeper Scott Christie had defender Brian Allison to thank when he cleared off the line ten minutes after the break.

Stirling played out the last 28 minutes with only ten men after Paul Murphy was shown a straight red following an altercation with Warriors' Iain Thomson.

Peterhead enhanced their promotion claims as their ten men saw off Dumbarton 2-1 at Balmoor with Graeme Sharp the key. The Blue Toon winger was working in Malaysia last week and was restricted to a substitute's role against Alloa at the weekend as a result, however he made his presence felt against the Sons.

Sharp fired in a pass from Martin Bavidge to give his side the lead in 13 minutes, but Dennis Wyness levelled 14 minutes later when he netted from the edge of the box.

Neale Cooper's side were reduced to ten men when Jonathan Crawford was dismissed for a foul on Derek Carcary on 76 minutes, however Sharp popped up two minutes later to net from inside the six yard box to keep the points in the North East.