Steven Whittaker has urged his side to stop offering opponents fast starts in games after his Stirling side were once again forced to scale the mountain to claim a hard-earned point in the home match with Stranraer.
It was a familiar story for the Binos in recent weeks as they failed to seriously ignite in the first half and fell two goals behind to the Blues.
Second-half revival earns a point
The start mirrored similar poor openings against Kelty Hearts and Forfar - but unlike those games, the Binos were able to get something out of the contest due to second half goals from Jordan Allan and sub Daniel Dobbie.
Whittaker was quick to acknowledge his side's trend for sluggishness in recent matches — and praised the role of on-loan Dunfermline youngster Dobbie for helping seize a grip on the game after his introduction for the second half.
Whittaker calls for stronger first-half displays
The Stirling boss told the club's media channel: “We got off to a poor start again and we're giving away bad goals within the first section of the game.
“In the first half of games, we have to be more competitive, make sure we stay in it and work our way through because we have the quality in the team to produce chances and get goals.
“We have to stop leaking goals on the defensive side of things.
“I felt we didn't land on enough second balls in the first half, they were more anticipatory than us, we were reactive and so we looked to fix a few things at half-time and brought on Danny, who got on to a few more of those balls.
“We knew at half-time that they had a 2-0 lead and something to protect, so for us we had nothing to lose from our mindset and if we got one back, we could add more doubt into them which is what we managed to do.”
Mullin returns to action
Another bright spot for the Binos on the afternoon was the return of key summer capture Josh Mullin to playing action after missing more than a month following a grim facial injury against Dundee United in the Premier Sports Cup.
The experienced midfielder - captured from Raith Rovers in the summer - had been helping with the Binos' coaching staff during his layoff, but was back in the Stirling engine room sporting a mask to give a further boost coming into the next few matches.
The gaffer added: “Josh will bring great experience and quality into what we're trying to do. We've missed him during the time when he's been out and he's been great with the boys on the sidelines and feeding information, so he's played his part regardless of being on the pitch.”
