Stranraer beat Annan to reinforce title bid

Stranraer announced their arrival as Third Division title contenders last night as they saw off leaders Annan 3-0 to win at Galabank for the first time ever in the league and move to within three points of the summit.

The hosts suffered a blow in the pre-match warm-up when Chris Jardine aggravated an injury and was replaced by Sean O’Connor, with the visiting Stair Park men showing no sympathy as Stuart McColm, Martin Grehan and Stephen Stirling all scored.

The Blues opened the scoring with 18 minutes played when Stirling sent a fine through ball to McColm on the left hand side of the box and he fired a low shot past Alex Mitchell. And it was 2-0 on 31 minutes when Grehan turned home a Sean Winter cross. Stirling shot home 11 minutes from time to complete a fine night for Keith Knox’s side.

Stirling’s interim manager Greig McDonald was denied a debut when their Second Division match against Forfar Athletic at Station Park was called off as the Loons’ pitch was frozen solid. The Third Division encounter between Queen’s Park and Clyde was also postponed.

The SFL re-arranged both games for next Tuesday, 13 December with a 7.30pm kick-off. Elgin City and Peterhead will play their postponed fixture on the same night, with a 7.45pm start.