ALL THE BUILD-UP TO BETFRED CUP CLASHES
BETFRED CUP STIRLING ALBION v HIBS ALAN MARSHALL
TOM JAMES has spent the last two years battling Christian Doidge – and admits it’s been one of his toughest tasks in football.
And he has backed Hibs’ £300,000 hitman to torment Scottish defences.
James was on the books at Yeovil from 2017 and relished the challenge afforded by League Two rival Doidge, who was leading the line for Forest Green Rovers.
Doidge notched 63 goals for Rovers but only found the net once against Yeovil once in that time, in a 3-0 triumph in February – and James was sidelined that afternoon.
But he can’t wait be on the same side as the bustling striker after a few titanic tussles between the pair.
James smiled: “For last two years, we actually had a bit of a rivalry but it’s good to be playing with him and see how good he REALLY is in training and in the games.
“He’s a tough opponent. I don’t want to praise him up too much as he’ll see this!
“No, he’s one of the toughest strikers I have played against when I was at centre-half, so it’s good to have him.
“The challenge of Scottish football is something that was mentioned to me at the very start, people saying it’s quite a physical league. But having played in League Two, I’m sure he will fit in really well.”
Doidge bagged his first goal for Hibs in their 4-3 friendly win over Carlisle, converting a trademark towering header.
James smiled: “I’ve seen him doing that week in, week out in League Two and he’s only taken until the third game of pre-season to do it here.
“It’s a good start for him to get off the mark and I’m sure we will see plenty more.”
Doidge and James are part of the new Welsh contingent at Easter Road along with goalkeeper and fellow summer signing Chris Maxwell.
And James is praying Wales boss Ryan Giggs casts a glance north of the border.
He said: “International football is one of the biggest reasons I came up here.
“There’s a lot of matches on TV and that gives you the platform to play in front of even more people than you can think of. Hopefully, performing in full stadiums and high-profile matches will help put my hat in the ring for the Welsh squad.
“You see guys like Marc McNulty get a Scotland call last season because of the way they played for Hibs and it makes you believe you can be the next one. Fingers crossed it goes well – to play for Wales would be a dream come true.”
Stirling manager Kevin Rutkiewicz is looking for his new look side to bond.
He said: “We had hard games in pre-season against Raith, Rangers and Hamilton to help build us up for Hibs.
“We’ve got 13 or 14 new players, so this is a massive test but also a chance for us to learn a lot about each other.
“If we build a stronger bond for the season ahead then it is a good day for us.”