Albion hopeful of adding to squad

Jun 3 2009

STIRLING Albion’s squad will begin preparations for the 2009/10 campaign when they resume pre-season training on Tuesday, June 23.

Boss Allan Moore and his assistant John O’Neill hope to have at least two new players in place by then and this week spoke to a central defender and midfielder about signing up at Forthbank.

Albion are hopeful of doing deals with the unnamed pair, who have also attracted interest from elsewhere, but those positions are the ones most in need of strengthening and with the bulk of last term’s squad retained, a play-off push will be a minimum aim.

O’Neill said: “We are waiting to hear back from a couple of players. You never know what other offers they might have but we are hoping to secure one, if not both of them. We are keen to add to the squad as soon as possible but it’s normal practice to invite one or two to pre-season training as well.”

Stirling’s first competitive game is against Raith Rovers in the first round of the ALBA Challenge Cup on Saturday, July 25. John McGlynn’s men won 1-0 at Forthbank in April en route to the Second Division title but Albion will fancy their chances against the Fifers.

It is a rare home draw for the Reds, who have landed Forthbank ties in only two of their last 12 matches in a competition which has provided little cheer in recent times. There have been heavy first-hurdle exits against Cowdenbeath (4-0 in 2006), Montrose (5-1 in 2007) and Dunfermline (3-0 in 2008).

The tournament began in 1990/91 and Albion have twice reached the semi-finals, losing to Stenhousemuir in 1996 and Alloa in 1999. They have never previously faced Raith in the Challenge Cup but have a good recent record against the Kirkcaldy club.

Saturday, August 1 has been set aside for the first round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup and the SFL have had to tinker with the format as an unprecedented six SPL clubs – Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Aberdeen, Falkirk and Motherwell – qualified for Europe and are therefore exempt until the third round.

The upshot of that means 32 clubs will go in at the first-round stage, including St Mirren, Inverness CT and St Johnstone, with the other four top-flight clubs not in Europe joining in the second round. Albion’s first league game will be on August 8 and there are now only two weeks to wait before the fixture list is unveiled.

A pre-season friendly with Partick Thistle has been confirmed for Saturday, July 11 and home friendlies against Dunfermline and Dundee United could also be on the agenda.

SEASON tickets for 2009-10 are now sale at Forthbank.

And the good news for fans is that prices have been kept the same as last year.

Adults tickets are £215; Junior and Senior Citizens £135 and Young Reds £120.