The University of Stirling men’s football team returned to winning ways in the Lowland League, beating Gretna 2008 3-1 at Forthbank.
Goals from Ben Maciver-Redwood, Cameron McKinley and Finn Moffett cancelled out Carter Jenkins’ opener to see The Uni rise to 10th in the league table.
Head Coach Chris Geddes said: “I gave them a bit of a rocket at halftime! But second half we showed how good we are.”
“Credit to the Gretna defenders it wasn’t just poor finishing from us, but second half we took control and deserved the win.”
After Wednesday’s disappointing loss to Civil Service Strollers, Stirling hoped to bounce back but found themselves behind after 17 minutes. A Gretna corner was whipped into the near post and bundled in by Jenkins.
It was almost an immediate response from the hosts when Ciaran McAninch broke down the left side and found Ben Heal in the box, but his powerful strike crashed off the bar.
After mounting pressure following the goal, The Uni should’ve levelled the game on 36 minutes. Maciver-Redwood had two shots from the right saved by Mason McCready, he then crossed to McKinley who lifted the ball over the bar from close range.
The second half continued where the first left off with Stirling dominating possession. Heal did brilliantly to win the ball in the box but excellent Gretna defending prevented him from finding space to shoot.
Substitute Moffett added an extra threat up front finding McKinley in the box, his shot beat McCready but was swept away on the line by the defence.
For all of The Uni’s neat play, it was a goalline scramble which saw them equalise on the hour. Marcus Lavery crossed in and Maciver-Redwood eventually poked the ball in after several attempts.
This proved to be the spark for Stirling to find their scoring boots as they took the lead just six minutes later. Moffett flicked Maciver-Redwood in behind, his shot was saved by McCready but straight into the path of McKinley to tap in.
McCready kept his side in the game with 10 minutes left when he produced a miraculous double save. Maciver-Redwood found space four yards out but was denied by the keeper, who was then up quickly to save the rebound shot at his near post.
He was helpless four minutes later though as Moffett added to the lead. The striker cut in from the right side and unleashed an unstoppable strike into the right corner from the edge of the box.
The Uni controlled the game well to see out an impressive victory. They will now turn their attention to BUCS football as they host Nottingham Trent on Wednesday.
The full match gallery can be viewed on the George Vekic photography website.
University of Stirling: Gromov Godik, Lavery, Aslanoglu, Jeanes, Scally (Stokes 54), Russell (Woloszyn 88), Docherty (Moffett 54), McKinley (Manomey 88), Maciver-Redwood (Malcolm 83), McAninch, Heal