In-form Elgin test awaits for slumping Stirling Albion as Binos boss feels heat

The tasks don’t get any easier for Stirling Albion as they aim to bring themselves out of the doldrums as League Two’s in-form side make the visit to Forthbank. It was a painful afternoon last time out for the Binos as they collapsed to a 4-0 home defeat at the hands of Forfar Athletic, a result which dropped Albion to second-bottom in the table and firmly looking over their shoulder at bottom dogs Edinburgh City. A palate cleansing match might have been on the wishlist for under-pressure Binos boss Alan Maybury - but instead he prepares to set his side for back-to-back clashes against a confident Elgin City side in both league and Scottish Cup action. The Black and Whites come into Saturday’s match off the back of a comfortable 2-0 home win over Dumbarton which lifted them into fourth place. The Moray club are also the form team in the division over the last six games, racking up 12 points to sit ahead of the league’s top three clubs in Spartans, East Kilbride and Clyde on that measurement. Stirling also don’t have much to provide confidence from the sides’ first meeting at Borough Briggs this season as they broke a Binos hoodoo of good results at the venue with an easy 3-0 win. Russell Dingwall put Elgin in front a minute from the break before Josh Walker doubled the lead in the final quarter of the game. A difficult afternoon was rounded off by Kane Hester hammering in a free kick from all of 40 yards into the top corner to put a final twist on the scoreline. Speaking after the Forfar defeat, Maybury urged the leaders in his side to come to the fore and lift the team out of their slump. He said: “We certainly need those leaders to step up for us and we didn’t have enough on the pitch today. “Someone needs to take the game by the scruff of the neck, to talk and to make demands of everyone but you don’t get many of them anywhere; the game is different now and when the game falls away from you, then it just gets away.”