PLAY TO OUR STRENGTHS
Mackay lands versatile midfielder in deal with Accies
Stirling Albion this week completed the signing of midfielder Ronan Hughes on loan from Hamilton Accies until January.
The 19–year old can also play at right–back and has been with the Premiership club since the age of just 10, making his first team debut against Inverness Caledonian Thistle in May 2016.
Hughes made three appearances for Martin Canning’s men in the Ladbrokes Premiership last season and was part of the ‘colt’ team that knocked Clyde out of the IRN-BRU Cup last month.
This will be Hughes’ first spell out on loan and his versatility will be useful to Binos boss Dave Mackay, whose side face Annan Athletic at Forthbank on Saturday.
New SPFL rules allow clubs in League 1 and 2 to bring players in on loan during September, despite the transfer window closing at the end of August. Four loans are permitted at any one time and Hughes is the third at Forthbank, following the arrival of goalkeeper Calum Ferrie and forward Neil McLaughlin in the summer.
Stirling are also on the verge of snapping up former St Mirren and Dunfermline Athletic midfielder Evan Horne, who impressed as a trialist in Saturday’s 1-0 home win over Queen’s Park.
The 20–year old made 16 appearances on loan from Saints to Annan Athletic in the second half of last season and has been training with the Binos in recent weeks.
Boss Dave Mackay said: “We couldn’t get Ronan in before the Queen’s Park game – he was unavailable as he suffered a concussion in a reserve game about 10 days ago. We’ve got a strong squad now and we’ve still got Darren Barr, Darren Smith and Lee Hamilton to come back.
“Evan has been in training with us for about three weeks. He came in just looking for training facilities to begin with. He has done very well so we are going to bring him in, whether that’s on an amateur contract or whatever. He’s keen to come and he has a good attitude.”
Mackay was delighted to see his side end their long wait for a home win with a 1–0 victory over Queen’s Park on Saturday.
Skipper Ross McGeachie headed the only goal in the twelfth minute, which means Stirling are now chasing a third straight win when they face Annan Athletic this weekend.
Mackay added: “I was happy with the performance, especially in the first half. We had a poor 10– minute spell but we controlled the majority of it.
“Our home form has been dreadful for a couple of seasons now and it’s something we need to amend. We want to make it a difficult place to come for teams by getting in their faces like we did in that first half.”
The Binos hadn’t won at Forthbank since beating Clyde in February but Mackay hopes they can claim another three points against Annan on Saturday and continue to climb the table. The Galabankies have lost their last two games after taking 10 points from a possible 12 in August.
He said: “The bad home run has been a mixture of a few things. Teams who play on a poor surface enjoy coming here because the pitch is so good and for a while we have not handled the crowd well.
“Fans always get anxious when you give the ball away – we have dealt poorly with that at times but the fans will get right behind us if we keep working as hard as that.”