Jordan White bagged four goals, including two penalties, as Albion racked up the biggest league win in their 68-year history against 10-man Shire in an astonishing match.
The Binos famously thrashed Selkirk 20-0 in an amazing 1984 Scottish Cup tie but their previous best on league duty was 7-0 on five occasions, most recently against Queen of the South in 1996.
This was a remarkable result to end a manic spell of nine matches in 29 days that has revived the fortunes of a team who were bottom of the league and struggling badly.
Five wins, three draws and a single defeat later, Greig McDonald’s men are only five points shy of the play-offs.
Stirling had failed to beat their local rivals in three previous attempts this season and Shire arrived at Forthbank on the back of one loss in five matches - at Ibrox - while Albion were bidding to bounce back from a 1-0 reverse at Berwick.
McDonald fielded the same XI that started at Shielfield but could never have envisaged anything like this. By the end Stirling were only one goal away from becoming the first club in Scotland to reach double figures in a league game since Rangers demolished Raith 10-2 in 1967.
On a bitingly cold day there was little to suggest what was to follow in the early stages of this game.
It was almost half an hour before Albion made the breakthrough. By then both Kevin Turner and Philip Zufle had passed up glorious opportunities for the visitors.
Stirling’s opener was an own goal, Kyle Gillespie turning Phil Johnston’s cross into his own net before White squeezed home the second from a tight angle in 38 minutes.
Shire’s day really started to unravel when they were reduced to 10 men shortly before half-time. Referee Mat Northcroft ruled Steven Jackson had caught Scott Davidson. It looked marginally outside the box and the contact was unclear but, having made the decision, a red card was inevitable.
White’s penalty was saved by Grant Hay but the whistler angered the visitors by awarding a retake for encroachment and this time the 21-year-old made no mistake, going straight down the middle.
Midfielder Mark Ferry claimed the fourth early in the second period when his low shot sneaked under Hay before Max Wright got just enough on his effort to pull one back. Stirling ran riot after that, scoring five times in the final quarter. On-loan Dumbarton winger Johnston netted his first Albion goal with a tidy finish then provided the cross for Ferry to head the sixth.
Substitute Josh Flood got in on the act with a neat shot across the keeper for the seventh goal and White completed his hat-trick with a penalty that went in off the post after sub Sandy Cunningham had been impeded.
It was White who had Albion on cloud nine when he popped up at the back post to smash home Danny Ashe’s delivery in stoppage time – not a bad way to go into the televised match with Rangers on March 23.
