Farrell glad his side has early chance to bounce back from ‘dreadful’ display

Stranraer can pull level with fourth-placed Arbroath by beating the Gayfield men at Stair Park tonight. But manager Stevie Farrell is more concerned about his side bouncing back from Saturday’s 5-1 defeat at Forfar.

Farrell said: “I never saw such a poor performance coming. We had trained and prepared well but we were dreadful, especially in the first half.

“It is great to have this game so quickly to get going again as I did not want the Station Park game lingering for a full week. It would be great to move on to the same points mark as Arbroath, but it is more important to show that we are a better team than Saturday suggests.”

Kyle Turner is a major doubt after being injured against the Loons.

Arbroath boss Dick Campbell, pictured, has warned his players that they will be facing motivated hosts. “One of the phrases I have used a lot in my time as a manager is to be wary of the wounded lion,” he said. “Stranraer will have been wounded by losing heavily at Forfar and will be out to make amends.

“It was a surprise to see the scoreline, but we are going into this game aware that they will be hurt.”

The Red Lichties played out a goalless draw with fellow promotion hopefuls Alloa on Saturday and Campbell is set to make changes. “I thought we were the better side. However, we could not break Alloa down,” he said. “I am in the fortunate position of having guys like Bobby Linn, Danny Denholm and Blair Yule on the bench at the weekend and that means they will be fresh.”

Ryan Mccord could return after a hamstring injury but Steven Doris remains out. Peterhead will move to within three points of leaders Montrose this evening should they defeat hosts Annan in one of the Blue Toon’s two games in hand over the Gable Endies.

Jim Mcinally’s side have stuttered recently with only one win in five games, but Mcinally saw signs in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Berwick Rangers that they are ready to move up a gear.

The Balmoor boss said: “Injuries and suspensions have hurt us but despite only drawing at the weekend there