CROSS BORDER RAID FOR BINOS Albion out to beat Berwick Rangers in Scottish Cup clash
Stirling Albion begin their Scottish Cup campaign tomorrow when they face Berwick Rangers in a second-round tie at Shielfield.
It’s a big game for the Binos, who head across the border as favourites, and manager Kevin Rutkiewicz knows the importance of a good cup run.
There are 20 second-round ties this weekend and the winners progress to round three on November 27 when the Championship and League 1 clubs enter the competition. Stirling will hope they can at least reach the fourth round in January when the Premiership clubs join for the last 32.
Albion beat Berwick 3-0 at Shielfield in last year’s Scottish Cup second round on Boxing Day but the Borderers look a stronger side now and have plenty of players with SPFL experience while they are managed by former Forfar boss Stuart Malcolm.
The Shielfield side beat Gretna 2-1 in the first round but their form in the Lowland League has been up and down, with eight wins, one draw and seven defeats leaving them seventh in the table.
Berwick thrashed struggling Vale of Leithen 11-0 in their last Lowland League game a fortnight ago.
Stirling’s last Scottish Cup tie was a 2-0 home defeat to Raith Rovers in March while their most recent match in front of fans in this competition was a 2-0 Forthbank loss to Clyde in November 2019 after a Sean Heaver double had seen off Strathspey Thistle in the previous round.
In 2018/19, Albion lost 2-1 to Queen’s Park as they fell at the first hurdle and that came 12 months after a horrible 5-3 defeat to Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale.
Rutkiewicz’s side drew 1-1 with
Stranraer last weekend to make it seven games without defeat and face leaders Kelty Hearts at the end of the month but the Scottish Cup is the immediate focus.
The Binos boss said: “The Scottish Cup is big for us and we really want to do well. It’s important that we progress. We created some surprises ourselves in the Premier Sports Cup by beating Cove and Peterhead and drawing at Inverness and we don’t want to be on the end of an upset.
“I think Berwick are stronger than last year but we have been on a good run. We weren’t at our best against Stranraer and I think a draw was probably a fair result but that’s seven games unbeaten. I thought we looked solid again and we are certainly sharing the goals around – it was good for Adam Cummins to get his first for the club and we had another couple of good chances.
“The Scottish Cup is a special competition and we know the importance of the Berwick game. We’ll look at the Stranraer match again and review what we could have done better. We have a strong squad so there could be changes but I wouldn’t imagine there will be many.”
Defender Paul McLean remains a long-term absentee while skipper Ross McGeachie and midfielder Ray Grant also missed last week’s draw with Stranraer.
If Saturday’s match ends in a draw, the replay will take place at Forthbank on Tuesday, November 2, kick-off 7.45pm. The referee for tomorrow’s game is Mike Roncone.
*Numbers drawn on Wednesday in the Stirling Albion Supporters Trust lottery were 13, 16, 23 and 27. There were no jackpot winners so jackpot on October 27 rises to £1470. Three lucky dip winners each receive £20 - G Lockerbie (Aboyne), D Phimister (Stirling), A Dickson (Stirling).