Bemused Stirling boss Steven Whittaker admits he was left stunned by his side's poor showing as they were blown away by Forfar to make it back-to-back league defeats on the road.
Despite the previous weekend's late heartbreak at Kelty, the comeback from two goals down in Fife allied with a positive display in seeing off League One Cove Rangers 4-2 at Forthbank had offered hope as the Binos travelled north. But they failed to turn up at Station Park as the Loons took charge of the contest early courtesy of Aaron Arnott's ninth-minute opener and never ceded that control as goals from Scott Shepherd and former Stirling midfielder Adam Brown secured a comfortable 3-0 win for the home side.
Whittaker criticises slow start
The poor start to the game represented a grim deja vu for the Binos after also conceding in the early stages at Kelty - with that early defensive sloppiness earmarked by ex-Scotland defender Whittaker as a key area of improvement for Saturday's home match with Stranraer.
He told the club's media at full time: “We're not learning from our mistakes; when you come to an away ground, you need to stay in the game to start with and we've lost another goal in the first five or ten minutes.”
“It made it an upward fight from there, but we were second best all over the pitch today, we weren't up for the battle and didn't land on second balls.”
Quality lacking in final third
Whittaker added: “The moments we got to the final third, there was no real quality there to go and create chances, so all in all it was a disappointing performance and one which I didn't see coming as I felt we were in a good place.”
“The learning curve is clear for us, we must stop conceding goals early in games, to build our way in to avoid that home momentum building against us.”
“We'll look at it and we must get better and learn from things.”
Stranraer visit offers chance to bounce back
Saturday's match against the Blues represented an opportunity for Stirling to seize back some of that early feel-good and momentum in a League Two which looks as tight as predicted before the campaign kicked off. The Wigtownshire outfit are once again led by former Albion standout Chris Aitken in the dugout and they head to Stirling on the back of their first points of the season.
Mark McLuckie's header midway through the second half ensured a win over Spartans at Stair Park which leaves both sides locked on three points ahead of the weekend dust-up.
