STEELMEN HEAD FOR FORTHBANK
Binos will play Motherwell in opening friendly
Stirling Albion begin their preparations for 2017/18 when they face Motherwell in a Forthbank friendly on Saturday at 3pm.
Admission has been pegged at just £5 for adults, seniors and students and free for U16s for what is a rare meeting between the teams.
Motherwell won a friendly 3-1 just a few months after Forthbank opened in 1993 and the Steelmen came out on top 2-0 in a Scottish Cup last-16 tie at Fir Park in February 1999 after the Binos had stunned Hibernian in the previous round but they have not been in the same division since 1980/81.
Well boss Stephen Robinson has made a number of new signings this summer, namely Alex Fisher (Inverness Caley Thistle), Gael Bigirimana (Coventry City), Craig Tanner (Reading), Trevor Carson (Hartlepool United), Andy Rose (Coventry City) and Russell Griffiths (Everton).
Albion boss Dave Mackay has so far added former Peterhead left-back Steven Noble to his squad, along with ex-Clyde forward Peter MacDonald, and hopes to bring in both a right-back and a winger in the coming week and those deals could even happen before the weekend.
That would leave just a back-up goalkeeper to increase the first-team squad to 18, although Mackay has not ruled out further additions if the right players come along.
He said: “We are pretty close to getting a couple of deals done but we still need to think about the best thing to do about another goalkeeper for competition to Cammy Binnie and I’ll be speaking to Davie Westwood (goalkeeping coach) before we decide on that one.
“The guys were back for pre-season training on Saturday and I was fairly happy with the shape they are in. We had a session on Saturday and another one on Sunday morning before attending the community event in the afternoon.
“There’s no substitute for games, though. I was always happy as a player when they started so we are looking forward to the Motherwell match. We’ve also got Alloa next midweek and a closed door game the following Saturday. I’ve also fixed up another friendly on Monday, July 10 against Cumbernauld Colts because it might be important to give guys more game time before we play our first competitive match against Falkirk in the Betfred Cup.”
Saturday’s match with Motherwell comes to soon for striker Andy Little while central defender Ross Smith will also miss out as he continues his comeback from a minor knee operation during the close season but the former Dundee United and Peterhead man isn’t too far away.
Former Albion full-back Lee Hamilton trained with the team on Sunday after leaving Berwick Rangers in the summer but it’s no more than that at this stage.
Mackay added: “Lee isn’t a player I know well and I have a right-back in mind to bring in but obviously he was here before and I was happy to offer him training facilities.
“Jack McCue has also been in – he is a good player but his problem last season was staying fit so he might get a chance in some of the friendlies and Sam Davidson is another one we will take a look at. He is too old for the U20 side now but he is one of the fittest players at the club.”
●Stirling Albion will meet Montrose at Forthbank in the first round of the IRN-BRU Cup. The match will be played on either Tuesday, August 15 or Wednesday, August 16.