Stirling boss insists side deserved win in Braves classic despite "crazy" period
The Binos were forced to go through extra time to squeak past the Lowland League outfit after conceding twice in stoppage time in East Kilbride.
It was a cup classic on Saturday for Stirling Albion as they navigated a last-second comeback and even later close shave to squeak past Caledonian Braves.
But Stirling boss Alan Maybury believes his side’s quality and fitness showed through in the end during a heart-stopping 4-3 Scottish Cup second-round win at K Park.
Ross McNeil’s shock opener for the Lowland League side was quickly cancelled out by a freak goal from Braves defender Robbie Stewart, before second-half goals from Chris Eadie and a Russell McLean penalty appeared to have sewn up progression for the Binos.
But as the Stirling fans started to make their way home, Braves scored twice in added time to seal a dramatic extra 30 minutes where Adam Brown’s 109th minute winner eventually got the visitors over the line and into a third-round clash away at Elgin City.
Maybury recognised post-match that a “crazy” period had meant his troops had made heavy weather of the win, but insisted his side deserved the win on the basis of chances created.
He said: “I’m just glad to win it; we said to the boys before the start that it was a different challenge and the cup holds that prestige so it’s really important to build a run in this competition.
“We did make hard work of it in the end, but the most important thing is getting through to the next round.
“Our preparation for the match was the same, it’s just another Saturday to Saturday and we spoke about attitude and work-rate, I felt like we had that first half and they get a goal out of nothing from a cross we don’t deal with.
“We started the second half on the front foot, scored two good goals and could have had more but then we just have a crazy period at the end where we let them back into it.
“The fitness and quality showed in extra-time and we score a nice goal again and then more nerves when they hit the post, but luckily it didn’t go in.”
Long-term absentees Lee Hamilton, Sam Denham and Harley Ewen were joined by suspended Ryan Shanley on the sidelines.
While there was another injury blow for Dale Hilson, who was forced to come back off the pitch with a knock after making a cameo off the subs bench.
But the Stirling gaffer was keen to praise the work of his backroom staff in getting his side in the right physical shape to cope with a full 120 minutes of action - with several young players appearing for Albion across the game.
“We had to change some personnel with some injuries and a fair number of young boys on the park; we handled everything that was thrown at us before the mad bit at the end where we can’t see it out but it’s credit to the players to get through.
“The boys are fit and strong because of the work and that was the message going into extra-time - that we were the fitter team playing at a higher level and we opened them up nicely for the goal to win it.”