Binos KDM Challenge

This game has been brought forward to Friday night with an 8:00pm kick-off. That's the same night as Scotland play Denmark in a World Cup Qualifier, but surely there won't be much interest in the flogging of a dead horse and the Caledonian SarensPSG Stadium will be bursting at the seams instead. The Binos have been busy this August playing seven games in total with three wins, three defeats and a draw. The Caley Jags bowed out of the North of Scotland Cup this week in what suspiciously looked like a tactical decision to leave the competition for Highland League sides to battle for the trophy in the final where Forres Mechanics will line up against Inverness Clachnacuddin, who disposed of Ross County in the other semi-final.

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Match/Ticket/Bus/Info

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ℹ️ Matchday Info: Stirling Albion (H)
🎟️ Tickets available from HERE
🚗 North & South Car Park Open £5🚗 £10🚌
🛍️ Club Shop open from 10am - KO
🍺 Bar 94 open from 1730
⚽ Kick-Off 8:00pm - KDM Trophy
🚌 Stagecoach bus from the Bus Station at 1915
🚌 Return 10 minutes after the full time whistle.

• ⚽💰 ENTRY: Adults: £10, Concessions: £5 (+ 65s or -16s)

• 🚍 Bus: £2.70 single

• Contactless payments or cash accepted

• Over 60/Disabled and Under 22 Concession passes are valid

• giving free travel on the service to passholders.
  

Our last KDM Trophy fixture saw us beat Aberdeen B 4-1

It took a while for us to subdue the eager Young Dons side but eventually we did thanks to a hat-trick from Chanka Zimba on the night. The young Dons had taken an early lead through Tristan Steven before Zimbal levelled just before the break. It wasn't until the final ten minutes before we broke their resistance with Zimba netting a further twice and old Billy Mckay coming on to notch a fourth in the dying embers. We also beat Elgin City 4-1 in our opening KDM fixture where goals from Alfie Bavide (x2 one pen), Robbie Thompson and a Paul Allan penalty earned us the win. Mark Gallagher got Elgin's goal, and a screamer it was.

We have been rotating our squad for these games as opposed to our League1 side as you would imagine given our own hectic start to the season, however, the bench has always looked stronger in the KDM cup just in case. Last Saturday we beat League leaders Alloa so our main squad seems to be in fine fettle.

We are now out of the NoS Cup having 'lost' to Forres Mechanics. Not the strongest side we put out in that game with little to no cavalry on the bench although Zimba did play and got our goal in a 2-1 defeat at Mosset Park. Forres go on to play Clach in the final who beat Ross County 2-1 at Grant Street.

Scott Kellacher now bigging up this event.... he must have got a row for originally criticising the format. Hey ho, it does appear to be a bit of overkill, but I'm sure by the time the knockout stages come along, people will treat it with a bit more respect.

Albions squad that beat Stranraer last week to round off a hectic opening month schedule after which they sit third in League2 and have one win and one defeat in the KDM Trophy. Keeper Robert Duffy has played in both their KDM fixtures so far.

Dale Carrick will be a big loss for them this season, however they have brought in some decent players. Cannon, Harkness Cunningham and Banner to name a few.

Players In: Aidan Cannon, midfielder (Celtic); Jack Harkness, defender (Rangers, loan to permanent); Ross Cunningham, midfielder (Kelty Hearts); Kyle Banner, defender (Stenhousemuir); Kane Thomson, defender (Alloa Athletic); Stewart Murdoch, defender (East Fife); Lee Hamilton, defender (Clyde); Russell McLean, forward (Forfar Athletic). Attacking midfieldr Corey Thomson and midfielder Lewis Hodgkiss are the latest signings.

Scottish League Two August Results

Stirling Albion 1-0 Stranraer (30th)

Stirling Albion 2-3 East Kilbride (23rd)

Forfar Athletic 4-2 Stirling Albion (16th)

Stirling Albion 0-0 Annan Athletic (9th)

Edinburgh City 1-2 Stirling Albion (2nd)

KDM - League Stage August Results

Stirling Albion 3-1 Hibernian B (26th)

Stirling Albion 0-3 Dundee United B (12th)

This was their starting XI in their last KDM Trophy fixture on 26th August which shows six changes from their League2 starting XI last Saturday.

R. Duffy

S. Murdoch L. Hamilton (c) C. Crane

J. Harkness M. Carse H. Ewen A. Cannon

C. Thomson

R. Shanley R. Cunningham

Stirling Albion were founded in 1945. I never knew they were losted to be honest.

Wikipedia told me: Stirling Albion was founded in 1945 after the town's previous football team King's Park had failed to survive the Second World War. King's Park's ground (Forthbank) had been damaged during the war, having been hit by a German bomb on 20 July 1940. This was one of only two bombs to fall on the town during the Second World War.

The new club was the brainchild of local businessman Thomas Fergusson, a local coal magnate, and he purchased the Annfield estate to build a new stadium. Annfield was situated within a quarter of a mile from the town centre and would be the home of The Binos until 1992.

The name 'Albion' supposedly came from the make of Fergusson's coal trucks. This however is an urban myth  Albion Coal lorries were used as grandstands but the club was named at a meeting of fans long before a ball was kicked. (Reference, Stirling Journal Newspaper, 1945.) The name Albion was chosen because it was an old word for Great Britain and held meaning for the founder.

It will be interesting to see the line up given many fringe players played on Tuesday.

I really want us to finish in the top 6 to be seeded in the last 32 and perhaps get to the stage that we make some money from this.

A great preview as always but, having been at Forres, I do believe we wanted (expected?) to win it. Billy was warned a few times by the standside linesman whilst one of our coaches got a yellow card.

Edited September 4, 2025Sep 4 by Robert

Having been away last weekend I am looking forward to this game.

14 hours ago, Robert said:

It will be interesting to see the line up given many fringe players played on Tuesday.

Having been at Forres, I do believe we wanted (expected?) to win it. Billy was warned a few times by the standside linesman whilst one of our coaches got a yellow card.

Personally, my thoughts are that if we really wanted to get into the final, we would at the very least have put out a strong bench. Unfortunately we had no game changers on the bench and only two or three starters capable of making a difference.

It looks like County fielded an equally poor starting XI and were fortunate not to get absolutely pumped.

I also find it strange that we don't get forewarned as to what standard of team we will field, which is a bit of a guessing game for supporters looking to see the better players. Maybe guidelines could be issued so we all know what to expect.

Methinks all round we have left the Trophy to be contested at the level it was originally intended.

Anyway, just my thoughts.....

Binos, lets be havin you

Strong line-up tonight...

We mean business.

6 hours ago, tm4tj said:

Personally, my thoughts are that if we really wanted to get into the final, we would at the very least have put out a strong bench. Unfortunately we had no game changers on the bench and only two or three starters capable of making a difference.

It looks like County fielded an equally poor starting XI and were fortunate not to get absolutely pumped.

I also find it strange that we don't get forewarned as to what standard of team we will field, which is a bit of a guessing game for supporters looking to see the better players. Maybe guidelines could be issued so we all know what to expect.

Methinks all round we have left the Trophy to be contested at the level it was originally intended.

Anyway, just my thoughts.....

Binos, lets be havin you

Just home, been decorating a room since 8am for a daughter.

Came on here to see what our team is for tonight to see if it is worth going to watch. No info on ict site either.

So, it’s the Scotland game on the telly for me. Probably be sleeping by 20.00 anyway.

……………. If only I had waited 3 minutes before posting. ☹️

Edited September 5, 2025Sep 5 by bishbashbosh
New posts

It's just that you are too slow typing Bishy Boy.

Strong squad on the bench and on the park...

Scraped through 2-1 thanks to a late, late goal from a corner

2-1 going on 10-1, having said that we could easily have lost it too with Ross Munro making a few good saves. Bring on Cove

49 minutes ago, PullMyFinger said:

2-1 going on 10-1, having said that we could easily have lost it too with Ross Munro making a few good saves. Bring on Cove

Was never going to be 10 Mr Finger, we had only 6 shots on target! Again we struggle to break teams down in the final quarter, lots and lots of poor passes, And was I glad to see that 2nd goal! Didn't fancy us if it went to pens, their keeper looked the part alright.

Anyway we're still top and Millen looks like making it back to playing.

6 shots on target but umpteen shooting opportunities, not sure why we seem to want to walk the ball into the net.

That was a tough watch.

Yes we were the better team and had plenty possession but we struggled to do anything with it.

For me the formation didn’t work having only Chalmers as a true midfield player, with Wotherspoon and Mckay seeming to alternate as to who was supporting him, whilst Chalmers had one of his poorer games, being quite wasteful with passing. We looked more structured after MacKinnon came on, whilst Longstaff was a big threat after he came on.

Sole has great potential and I see why he is being praised, but he needs to learn when to keep the ball and when to pass it. Too often he kept the ball when a better option was to feed it to a teammate.

And we are still too shot shy.

Anyway, forgetting the negatives, we persevered and got the winning goal we deserved to maintain our 100% record and that must secure our place in the last 32. MacLeod is increasingly comfortable at right back and had a very good second half pushing forward. McIntyre was doing the same in the left, whilst Robertson looked very assured.

Roll on Cove and a rare tv game.

8 hours ago, caley100 said:

Didn't fancy us if it went to pens, their keeper looked the part alright.

With the league format in this cup this season, they’ve scrapped the penalty shoot outs.

No Listen!

Not a convincing performance but we got the job done. I hope the lad Oscar is ok? That looked a shocking tackle from my view and a deserved red card. Ross Munro came up with some good stops at crucial times. Disappointing to read that Robbie Thompson has went out on loan. So much for giving our own lads an opportunity. He’s a far better player than Alonge.

7 hours ago, LisleRightPeg said:

Disappointing to read that Robbie Thompson has went out on loan. So much for giving our own lads an opportunity. He’s a far better player than Alonge.

He'll get more gametime at Brora and imo Alonge is doing very well, certainly made a difference when he came on last night.

And here it is. The longest League table in the WORLD

And further to our game with Stirling Albion, they have issued this statement...

The Club is aware of a post made on X/Twitter last Saturday. The post was an image of a Ku Klux Klan lynch mob with employees of our Club edited in to be hanging from a tree. This is utterly abhorrent behaviour and we are disgusted that someone who purports to support the Club thought it acceptable.

Everyone is of course entitled to their opinion and to air their criticism but this is far, far beyond that.

We have a duty of care to our employees and we know who the perpetrator was. We have reported it to the police and the perpetrator will be banned.

Those who think it amusing to post images such as these need to realise that posting malicious material which is grossly offensive or threatening is potentially a criminal offence. Further, we should all be well aware of the devastating impact of online bullying and harassment.

Please stop, think and consider others before you post.