SPFL League ONE Greenock Morton ............................... 4 Stirling Albion ..................................... 0 Stirling Albion slipped to another defeat when they went down 4-0 to title-chasing Morton at Cappielow on Tuesday.

A Stefan McCluskey hat-trick and a strike from Declan McManus consigned the Binos to their seventh straight loss, writes Jamie Hall.

Stuart McLaren’s side now lie 11 points adrift of Stenhousemuir at the foot of League One as the club stare relegation in the face.

The Binos boss made two changes with Willie Robertson and Chris Smith replacing Kevin McKinlay and Lewis Coult.

The visitors started the stronger of the two sides and almost took the lead on eight minutes, but Craig Comrie failed to reach Andy Stirling’s cross.

Gordon Smith and Angus Beith then spurned good chances before the hosts made Stirling pay for their missed opportunities.

McManus swung in a delicious cross and McCluskey was waiting at the back post to turn the ball home.

The Binos almost forced an equaliser late in the half when Stirling drew a fine save from Morton goalkeeper Derek Gaston, before Beith fired the rebound wide.

Morton came out firing in the second half, and Stirling goalkeeper Greg Paterson was soon forced into action, denying Ross Caldwell.

However, moments later the hosts did get their second. Caldwell played in McCluskey and his low shot gave Paterson no chance.

Stirling continued to press in the hope of salvaging something from the game, but any hope they had was killed off with 12 minutes to play.

The ball fell to McCluskey, and despite miscuing his shot, the ball rolled just inside the post for the striker’s hat-trick.

Just three minutes later McManus made it four for the home side. The Aberdeen loanee picked the ball up outside the area and fired a stunning shot past the helpless Paterson in the Stirling goal.

Morton boss Jim Duffy says he can only sympathise with the Binos and admits the scoreline flattered his side.

He added: “Stuart [McLaren] will be gutted in there. When people look at the scoreline they will think it was easy, but it was nowhere near that. Stirling were unlucky.

“We can’t allow teams to dictate as much as Stirling did and hope that your goalkeeper has a wonder game and that you stay in the game.

“To be honest, for us to be 1-0 up at half-time was a bit of a travesty from Stirling’s point of view. They played really well; we only played one piece of good football and scored from it.

“I suppose those are the breaks you sometimes get when you’re down near the bottom and things go against you.”