Ton travel to Forthbank tomorrow to take on a Binos side who were officially relegated to League Two last week following their 2-1 loss at Brechin City.

Duffy’s men are in desperate need of the three points as they look to profit from any slip-ups made by title rivals Stranraer and Forfar Athletic, who sit one and three points clear respectively.

But the Ton boss is certainly not expecting an easy ride as he cannot see Stuart McLaren’s basement boys downing tools just because their fate is sealed. He told the Tele: “Stirling have played very well against us the last two times and probably felt the eventual scorelines were harsh.

“And I think if we’re honest, they have been unlucky to be on the end of a couple of defeats where we’ve scored a number of goals [4-3 and 4-0].

“They were officially relegated last week and that can work two ways. They can play with a freedom because they’re going to go and look to build for next year now and enjoy their football.

“Or they could be hurting and suffer from a bit of a hangover. But in my time in football, I can’t remember a team just turning up and going through the motions towards the end of the season.

“It just doesn’t happen, so I still expect it to be a tough game. But from our point of view, we understand we will be favourites to win and we’ve got to approach the match in the right manner. Every game now we’ve got to be ultra-positive. Sometimes earlier in the season you could go away and maybe think a point’s not a bad result if you aren’t playing well “But now it’s just about wins, you’ve got to go for wins, so you’ve got to take an element of risk and approach things in a real positive manner.

“That has to be done with a clear mind. It’s not about just running about like a headless chicken, gambling and hoping for the best. You’ve still got to be composed enough to be able to play while understanding the relevance and need to get the three points.” Ton claimed a crucial three points in spectacular style last week by scoring three goals in the final 12 minutes to fight back from 2-0 down to beat Stenhousemuir. Nevertheless, Duffy has made sure his side know they can’t expect to continue in such a vein and must bring their ‘A’ game earlier in the afternoon.

He added: “We understand that you can’t rely on getting last-minute goals and playing in the last 10 or 15 minutes of games. You can’t do that.

“If you look at the game, we had three great chances in the first half and haven’t converted any of them.

“The goalkeeper came up with the answers, as did Graeme Smith for Brechin at Cappielow the week before.

“It’s not as though we’re not creating, we’ve just maybe not had the breaks you maybe need to try and change the complexion of the game.

“It would be great to go a goal, or two goals, up. The last time it happened was up at Dunfermline and we went on to absolutely control the game from then on in.

“That’s because the opposition then have to chase the game and we then found space, which is something that is uncommon for us because teams sit back against us and make it difficult. If they score first they make it even more difficult, so there is rarely space to play.

“We have to create that with good movement and good passing.

“If we can get ahead in matches it gives you that possibility of having a wee bit more time on the ball and it would be great to do that by capitalising on the chances we’re creating.” The fact Stirling have nothing to play for but pride may remove the shackles and allow them to attack with abandon, which could make for an open game and play into the Cappielow club’s hands.

Duffy said: “They might do that — but they have done that the last two games against us anyway. They played terrifically just before the turn of the year when we had to turn that around.

“And they were different class against us in the first half at Cappielow [in March]. Gats [Derek Gaston] made two or three magnificent saves. So they’ve played well against us, and I expect them to play with that freedom tomorrow. Maybe that will open the game up a little bit.” The Greenock men’s effort to break down the Warriors last week was enhanced by the introduction of substitutes Peter MacDonald, Jon Scullion and Joe McKee.

When asked if their impacts off the bench had given him food for thought in terms of his team selection for tomorrow, Duffy said: “If when you make substitutions the game goes from a negative to a positive, people perceive that as really good changes.

“If it doesn’t happen then people sometimes don’t understand the reason why you do certain things. I don’t think it’s the job of the manager to explain every decision you make, whether it’s a starting 11, a substitution or when you make them.

“I think sometimes you see the game in a certain light and decide when and if to make substitutions, but when the boys go on, the most important thing is they go on and try and make an impact on the game.

“That’s all they can do: try and impact the game in a positive manner. And they certainly did do that — but it doesn’t give me any food for thought, not at all.

“You are constantly looking at the players. You have to look at them during the week and see who looks sharp, who’s off the pace or who’s got knocks.

“There are a number of things to look at when you pick the team, as I’ve said before the opposition, the conditions … “But the fact that somebody can go on [as a sub] last Saturday and do pretty well doesn’t really influence me one way or another to see whether they should start this week. I’ll pick the team this week how I would normally do it.” That said, the Ton boss was pleased to see the players concerned make the contributions they did, particularly Joe McKee, who has not had his troubles to seek this term.

He added: “I was delighted for Joe because he’s had a difficult couple of months. Anybody who knows me knows he’s a player I admire. I think he’s a terrific footballer.

“It’s difficult to be the type of player who always wants to get on the ball and make passes and be creative, because they are open to criticism as there will be days when they make a few errors. But the one thing Joe doesn’t do is shy away from that. That’s the type of players you want in your team. He went on and looked to get on the ball and kept that patience of passing, which is not easy to do when you’re losing 2-0 and getting a fair bit of criticism.

“You have to be quite strong characters, and the likes of Joe and Peaso [Peter MacDonald] going on and showing that little bit of composure helps the rest of the players and calms everybody down. Hopefully that little taste of it again will give him the confidence to go and be an important player for us between now and the end of the season.”