Peterhead manager Jim McInally praised his side for a professional performance as the Blue Toon won at Forthbank for the second time this season to end Stirling Albion’s five-match winning run.
The Buchan men took full advantage of the postponement of Montrose’s match at Cowdenbeath to notch up their 11th away victory of the campaign and move three points clear at the top of League 2 – the title rivals meet in a massive match at Links Park on Saturday.
Jamie Stevenson’s 61st-minute goal settled a tight encounter of few chances and McInally, whose team hosts Stenhousemuir tomorrow, said: “I’m delighted with the result. I thought we were professional – we didn’t create a load of chances but neither did Stirling, although we had a let-off when they hit the bar in the second half.
“We were without Rory (McAllister) and we lost Russell (McLean) early on – things went against us a wee bit and in the past we might have succumbed to things like that but we got on with it.
“I didn’t need to put Rory on which was pleasing for me because he is not quite right. Russell rolled his ankle, so he could be out for a couple of weeks.
“We were also without Jack Leitch and Jason Brown due to suspension and they are big players for us.
“I’d done my homework on Stirling and they had been on a fantastic run and changed their shape a wee bit, so we matched up to try and nullify them. Danny Jardine has come in and done really well and if you give Kevin Moon time on the ball he will split you open – we knew if we could nullify them then at some stage we would create something ourselves.”
Stirling boss Dave Mackay said: “I think a draw would have been a fair result because there wasn’t much in the game. There wasn’t much quality and the two teams cancelled each other out.”
