Stirling Albion v Forfar Athletic – Match Preview

For home based ‘Loons’ fans Saturday’s trip to Stirling brings with it our shortest away day of the league campaign, while for the Forfar Athletic management and players it is another opportunity to get that ‘wee monkey’ off their back and record a first win on ‘foreign soil’ this term to date in the William Hill League2.

Certainly two of the last three competitive away matches have resulted in success, the first our 2-1 win at Musselburgh in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup, this followed up by a win with a similar score line at the end of ninety hard fought minutes up at Cove on Tuesday past in the KDM Evolution Trophy. Hopefully those performances have set the tone?

Jim Weir as ever is looking forward to the Forthbank clash but the end result against the Spartans still leaves a slightly sour taste. Jim had a frank and amicable discussion with SFA Referees supremo Willie Collum during the week to discuss the contentious decisions that went against us in the closing quarter of the clash and we now move on, nevertheless reflecting on a hard fought ninety minutes from a squad on the day ravaged by injury. Credit where credit is most certainly due.

Jim was also very pleased with the fight and determination shown by his players at the Balmoral Stadium on Tuesday past, an excellent battling team performance aided by a little bit of luck to be fair along the way seeing a fourth win recorded from our six outings in the revamped Challenge Cup. Special mention to Player-Coach Mark Whatley, his two goal haul showing he is ready and able to fulfil an important playing role when required and to MacKenzie Lemon who has turned in two very steady and impressive performances over the past week, following his recall to first team action.

Injuries still hit squad numbers for the trip to the Central Belt. Marc McCallum will have surgery on his nose break today (Friday), Kieran Inglis has suffered a setback in his recovery plans while Craig Slater will be out of action for at least two weeks. On the plus side Stuart Morrison looks likely to be fit for a return to the starting line up against the ‘Binos’. Another plus is the fact that the Rangers on loan duo Cormac Christie and Kyle Wark were both in their parent club’s starting line-up in their KDM tie against Hamilton Accies in midweek accumulating 165 minutes of valuable game time.

The Athies currently sit a point above Albion in the league table, the Forthbank outfit having lost their last two fourth tier fixtures against Edinburgh City and East Kilbride, this following a 4-3 nail biting extra-time success against Caledonian Braves in the second round of the cup. They will also go into Saturday’s contest without the services of defender Callum Crane shown a straight red card for violent conduct in the closing stages of their game in Lanarkshire last weekend. Former ‘Loons’ Russell McLean and Ryan Shanley were in the Albion starting line up at ‘K’ Park.

The match between the sides earlier in the season saw the ‘Loons’ record a 4-2 home win, amazingly all their four goals coming within ten minutes of actual playing time either side of the half time whistle, Martin Rennie and the much missed Ross McLean both netting braces.

The Forfar Athletic faithful who head to Stirling on Saturday will be looking for another positive performance from their side and a result of a similar vein, before heading home to hopefully witness a Scotland performance of a identical vintage. Would that not be a perfect day??

The man in the middle at Forthbank is Gary Hanvidge.

This Saturday’s fixture has the usual 3pm. kick-off and admission prices at Stirling are as follows;-

Adults £18
65 and over £13
Students £8
13/17 year olds £8
Under 12’s admitted foc if accompanied by a paying adult

Tickets can be purchased in advance online, see the Stirling Albion website for full detail. However a CASH ONLY turnstile is also available on the day.

Saturday’s other William Hill League2 fixtures;-Annan Athletic v Edinburgh City, Elgin City v Dumbarton, Stranraer v East Kilbride, The Spartans v Clyde