Ton went in level at half-time following a tense first half in which they had goalkeeper Derek Gaston to thank for keeping the game goalless.

But they scored twice in the first 15 minutes of the second half to record the crucial victory that moved them up to second in the table and within one point of the summit.

Manager Duffy insisted it wasn’t a case of taking a patient and persistent approach to making the breakthrough and instead put it down to growing accustomed to the fiery Forthbank surface.

He told the Tele: “Today was about adapting to the conditions. People watching from the side might think the pitch looked great but it was really bobbly and dry and it was difficult to get the ball down.

“You could see it, a couple of times it was bouncing over players’ heads. They were having to take an extra touch to get the ball under control. It was really difficult to get the ball down.

“In the first half, I don’t think we adapted [to that]. We wanted to try and play too many passes into the middle of the pitch.

“And when it was in the middle of the pitch, where it was as bobbly and fiery as that, then you invite the opposition to press you. They had an extra player in there and that gives them the advantage. In the second half we missed out the middle of the pitch a fair bit.

"It’s not something we want to do, but it was a case of adapting to the conditions.

“We also pressed higher up the pitch, and the second goal typified that. Declan [McManus] won the ball, and once he’s in that situation you feel confident he’s going to score. So it was more about adapting to the conditions today rather than being patient.” And the Ton boss explained a change in approach was the reason why he brought Thomas O’Ware off the bench to play as a striker on 60 minutes.

He added: “I brought Tam on, and was going to anyway [before we scored] because I felt we had to go a bit more back to front and play off the second balls and squeeze the game. It’s not always pretty but it gets you into the final third and then you can look to see if you can pass, and we did that on two or three occasions.

“Michael [Miller] and Ross [Forbes] were wanting to come to the ball to try and take possession, which is admirable, but it wasn’t the right day for it.

“We said to them at half-time that we needed to get up on top of Stirling – we weren’t really getting up the pitch – and the second goal typified what we were trying to do.

“That was to press higher up, get them to pass it into the middle of the pitch and then go and get closer to them and nick it.

“We did that three or four times in the second half; I don’t think we did it at all in the first half, so it was a better second half performance and better game management.” Ton took the sting out of the game after going 2-0 up and Duffy said safeguarding a critical three points had to come before going all-out for a higher margin of victory in order to boost their goal difference.

He explained: “Thankfully we didn’t have to do it in injury time or anything like that! And we saw the game out pretty well.

“It was about keeping the ball and making sure you don’t allow the opposition back into the game. If the opportunity comes to score another goal, fine - we still created chances - but you want to keep a clean sheet and make sure you’re not losing a goal with two or three minutes to go.

“Then it would have been panic stations, and that’s part of the reason we dropped Tam back into midfield and went kind of 4-3-3 in the last couple of minutes, to see the game out. We know goal difference could play a part, but ultimately I think, on a day like today, when it’s a difficult day, you want to win the match pure and simple and we did.

“We had to do our job today and that’s really all it was about. This division is so difficult and so cutthroat, so notoriously competitive, that there’s not a game that you can just expect to win it.

“Today typified it: Stirling Albion were relegated last week but still gave everything, still competed and were still desperate to win the game. And every team’s like that in this division.” Duffy also had words of praise for goalkeeper Derek Gaston, hailing the early stop that gave his side a platform to go on and claim the three points.

He said: “Credit to Derek Gaston’s save in the first 10 minutes. He spread himself and the ball hit him. It was a sloppy piece of play defensively, and that can make it difficult, especially on a day like today when it was tough to break the opposition down. So it was another pivotal save for us.”