Gallant Montrose played for an hour with only 10 men but in the end took nothing from their opening league game of the season at home to Stirling Albion.
Montrose lost the opening goal in six minutes and it was very much a self-inflicted wound. Alan Campbell was robbed by Dale Fulton 35 yards from goal and the youngster ran in to supply a cool finish.
Things went from bad to worse for the home side in 30 minutes when Ricky McIntosh clashed with Phil Johnston and was red-carded for denying the winger a goal scoring opportunity.
Ten-man Montrose dug in and were rewarded with an equaliser in 38 minutes. Ross McCord flighted the ball to the back post and ex-Dundee player Graham Webster volleyed home.
Montrose gave as good as they got in the second half and looked as likely to score as Stirling. The winner came in 75 minutes when Montrose gave away an free-kick, which was headed down by Chris Smith for Mark Ferry to score.
Montrose fought to the last and, four minutes from time, Stirling keeper David Crawford denied his former side a point when he somehow spread himself to block from Terry Masson six yards from goal.
Montrose boss Stuart Garden said: “We put a lot into the game, but we didn’t do enough to get anything out of it.
“In the first 30 minutes, they were a bit ahead of us. We came back into it and got a goal but, with 10 men, you are always up against it.
“We possibly deserved a point on our second-half performance. I thought we should have had a penalty (when Scott Johnston was held in the 90th minute) as the guy was all over him.
“I’m disappointed with the goals we conceded. Alan Campbell has held his hands up for the first and the second may have been offside although I will have to look at it again.”