INJURY BLOW FOR DARREN
Squash aces gear up for charity match Defender faces surgery on knee
Stirling Albion have been dealt a blow with the news that experienced defender Darren Barr requires surgery and faces several weeks on the sidelines.
The former Scotland internationalist joined the club from Morton in the second half of last season and was a key player in the team’s resurgence through February and March.
Barr, who has also played for Hearts, Falkirk and Kilmarnock, missed three games due to injury before returning for the run-in but a scan has revealed some minor damage to his knee which requires a tidy-up operation.
That will keep the 33-year-old out of the Betfred Cup ties against Dundee, Brechin City, Peterhead and Dunfermline Athletic and he must also be a major doubt for the early League 2 fixtures against Berwick Rangers at Shielfield and Clyde at Forthbank.
Last year’s top scorer Darren Smith is still struggling with a back problem and is set to miss the Betfred Cup opener against Neil McCann’s Dundee at Forthbank a week on Saturday. Albion boss Dave Mackay said: “We had Darren Barr’s knee scanned again and it looks as if he is going to need a little clean-up operation. He’ll possibly be out for four to six weeks so hopefully he’ll be back not far into the start of the new league season.
“We’re hoping he can get the operation done by the end of the week. He hurt his knee last season and there was a bit of bone bruising which was causing him a lot of pain and discomfort.
“He thought that was the problem and we hoped it would settle down over the summer but he still wasn’t feeling quite right and another scan has shown a little SEE PAGE 53 tear. The two things are aggravating each other so it’s probably best to get it tidied up now.
“It’s a very minor operation and he can basically walk out the same day.
“It’s a bit frustrating too for Darren Smith because his back has not really settled down as well as we had hoped so it’s probably going to be another couple of weeks out for him.”
Meanwhile Mackay is looking forward to a local derby against Alloa Athletic in the first round of the IRN-BRU Cup next month.
The game is due to be played at the Indodrill Stadium on Tuesday, August 14, with the winners going through to the second round on the weekend of September 8/9.
He said: “I’m glad we don’t have far to go when you see some of the ties we could have got – there could have been a lot of travelling.
“It will be a tough game against a team who have won promotion to the Championship but it’s a game we will look forward to when it comes round.”