Stirling Albion hope to beat the freeze

Jan 1 2010

STIRLING Albion face the prospect of a third successive Saturday without a fixture as the freezing winter weather showing no sign of easing.

The Binos are due to make the short trip to Alloa this weekend for a keenly-anticipated local derby at Recreation Park but the plastic pitch did not save The Wasps’ Boxing Day meeting with Cowdenbeath and the New Year showdown is now also in doubt.

East Stirling’s Third Division tussle with Albion Rovers – scheduled for the artificial surface at Ochilview last night – was also postponed because of snow and ice - and the weekend card in the SFL is again set to take a hammering.

An Alloa spokesman said: “Things aren’t looking great. Getting the snow off the pitch is one thing – and even then you have to be careful because you can damage the surface – but clearing the terracing of snow and ice is a daunting task.”

Four Clydesdale Bank Premier League fixtures fell victim to the conditions over the past couple of days and the prolonged cold snap could leave Stirling with a third outstanding game after the recent postponements against Stenhousemuir and Brechin.

That would mean their next match is away to Albion Rovers in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup on January 9 and victory at Cliftonhill would mean the February 6 Division Two clash with Arbroath at Forthbank would also have to be rescheduled.

Albion have struggled to find suitable training facilities over the past fortnight but were due to train indoors at The Peak last night in the hope that Saturday’s match beats the freeze.

Assistant manager John O’Neill said: “As far as I know everyone is fit and available for the Alloa game but we will just need to wait and see if we can play. The uncertainty is not ideal because we want to make sure the players keep up their fitness but if the game does go ahead we don’t want to have worked them too hard in training.”

After 17 matches, Albion are two points behind Cowdenbeath at the top of the table but O’Neill admits Stirling – whose last outing was the 2-2 home draw with Dumbarton on December 15 - have to push on in the second half of the campaign.

The Binos are due to face Alloa, Peterhead and East Fife before heading to Central Park to meet the Blue Brazil on January 30 and O’Neill said: “I think the first quarter of the season was excellent for us but we have not been as happy with the results in the second quarter.

Best strikers

“We are in a good position but we must kick on now and try and get back to the way we were earlier in the season in terms of not conceding goals. If we can do that then we should be fine because I think we have the best four strikers in the division in Martin Grehan, David McKenna, Bryan Prunty and Michael Mullen – scoring goals shouldn’t be a problem for us.

“Our target at the start of the season was to win promotion and I think we will be disappointed if we don’t go up as champions. You have to give credit to Cowdenbeath because they have been consistent and they are a very organised team. I think Brechin will come again and you can’t discount Alloa but it’s up to us to keep picking up points and improve our home form.”

If Saturday’s game does survive, Albion will go into it seeking revenge for home and away 1-0 defeats to Allan Maitland’s team earlier this term – with Andy Scott netting the winner on both occasions – but Alloa have lost only one of the last five derbies.