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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Paul Thomson

Albion Rovers can beat Spartans in play-off if we reproduce Stirling Albion display, says boss

Albion Rovers boss Sandy Clark believes if his side play like they did to down League Two champions Stirling Albion, they can take care of Spartans in their play-off for SPFL survival.

Second half strikes from Joe Bevan and Charlie Reilly delivered the victory Rovers required on the final day, but nearest rivals Bonnyrigg Rose ran out 3-0 winners at home to Elgin to ensure their impressive result was in vain.

Having finished bottom of the division, Rovers will now face Spartans over two legs in the pyramid play-off final after the Edinburgh side defeated Brechin City on penalties to progress.

Everything will be on the line for the 141-year-old club over the next two Saturdays and Clark believes if they hit the same kind of levels as they did against the Binos, they can preserve their fourth-tier status.

He said: "I know Stirling were resting one or two players who helped them win the league, but we still had to beat a good team and I thought we deserved to win the game.

"If we play as well as we did today, we'll give ourselves a real chance in the play-offs.

"We played the way we have done in most games. We were solid, hard-working, determined, a goal threat - all the things we work on all the time.

"Our performance levels in the six games I've had has been really good.

Joe Bevan opened the scoring for Albion Rovers (Phil Dawson)

"Today we put a whole performance together. We slightly edged the first half with better opportunities and totally dominated the second half and deserved to win the game.

"We know what we've got to do now and we'll be ready to go."

Clark knows their next opponents well having managed in the Lowland League at East Stirling earlier in the season before taking over at Cliftonhill when Brian Reid was sacked in March.

And he knows his side will be in for a battle against Dougie Samuel's men.

He added: "I know Spartans from my time at East Stirling, which will be a help.

"We've had somebody watching the last two play-off games against Brechin as well, so we know everything we need to know about Spartans.

"It will be a really hard game.

"We've got momentum, they've got momentum and they are a really good team so it will be tough for us."

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