The University of Stirling men’s football team were left rueing lapses in defending as two set-pieces saw them lose to Linlithgow Rose at Forthbank.
Thomas Vonk’s opener was cancelled out by two goals for Rose captain Connor McMullan, as Stirling failed to win their third game of the week.
Assistant Coach Sean Roycroft said: “It’s a tough one to take and a tough one to sum up. We had some really good chances in the first half, but to lose two goals from corners was really disappointing.”
“The boys worked really hard, especially after the games they’d had this week, but at the end of the day we got beat.”
The Uni took control of the early proceedings and penned the visitors back in their half. Vonk found Ben Maciver-Redwood in the box, laying the ball to Ciaran McAninch who forced an early save from Cammy Binnie.
McAninch and Maciver-Redwood combined again ten minutes later, this time McAninch finding Maciver-Redwood but the striker’s shot was blocked.
The pressure eventually told on 38 minutes when Stirling took the lead. Cameron McKinley and Marcus Lavery combined on the left wing, with the latter chipping to the back post for Vonk to power in a header.
Despite Stirling dominating possesion, Linlithgow had threatened on the break and after winning a corner, they found themselves level. Former Uni player Calum Rae flicked on at the near post for McMullan to tap in.
This equaliser spurred the Rose on to dominate the early stages of the second half. A well worked move down the right found Alan Sneddon in the box, but his near post strike was tipped around the post by Yan Gromov.
Continuous attacks led to a number of corners for the visitors. A back post cross was flicked back into McMullan who back-heeled the ball under Gromov from two yards.
A triple substitution for the Uni gave them more impetus going forward as they looked to regain control of the match. Substitute Jack Docherty was found in the box by Mckinley but his first-time shot flew over the bar.
Docherty was involved again with five minutes to play. After combining with Finn Moffett, he played the ball across for McAninch who somehow fired wide from two yards.
Moffett fired just wide in stoppage time as Stirling failed to convert their chances, consigning themselves to a 2-1 defeat.
Stirling will look to bounce back on Tuesday when they travel to Gala Fairydean Rovers in the Quarter-Final of the Lowland League Cup.
The full match gallery can be found on the George Vekic Photography website.
University of Stirling: Gromov, Aslanoglu, Southern, Lavery, Scally (Malcolm 58), Russell (Moffett 80), Vonk (Docherty 58), McAninch, S Martin (Stokes 58), McKinley, Maciver-Redwood (T Martin 75).