Stirling Albion made it nine league matches without a win by falling to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of 10-man Brechin City this evening.

The visitors made a bright start to the match and had a sight of goal after just 11 minutes, but Alexander Cunningham's shot from a Steven Doris cutback was wayward.

Brechin responded with a chance of their own shortly afterwards, but Gary Fusco's half-volley flew narrowly past the left post.

Stirling worked the Brechin keeper for the first time on the quarter-hour mark as William Robertson and Doris combined to set up Gordon Smith, who saw his strike saved.

Smith was thwarted by his namesake Graeme Smith in the 22nd minute as the Brechin keeper collected the striker's effort following a neat one-two.

Brechin once again had their keeper to thank shortly afterwards as he charged out to deny Cunningham after the forward had been sent clean through on goal.

It was the hosts who took the lead against the run of play as Robert Thomson found space to shoot from the right side of the penalty area before lashing his shot home.

Stirling were presented with the perfect opportunity to level things up less than 10 minutes after the restart when Colin Hamilton conceded a penalty and was shown a red card for handling the ball on the line.

However, they failed to make the most of the chance as Smith saw his penalty saved by the in-form Brechin keeper.

Things got even worse for the visitors moments later as Paul McLean, brought on for goalscorer Thomson to provide more defensive cover, found the back of the net with his first touch, nodding in from a corner to double Brechin's lead.

Stirling did give themselves hope late on, as Graham Weir planted his header past the keeper to halve the deficit with five minutes remaining.

It was not enough for a share of the spoils, however, as Brechin held out to claim all three points.

The result leaves Stirling still bottom of the table, while Brechin climb up to fifth, just two points off the playoffs.