The Stirling Albion Pre Match Thread

[RiG]

Who is travelling down for the New City derby on Saturday then?

I'll be popping along and looking forward to it. Never been to Forthbank before so it will be a first for me to take in a game there.

Stirling have been on a good run but have faltered of late picking up one point in their last 2 games against lower league opponents Alloa and Stranraer.

Hopefully we can come through this one unscathed but our Away form is poor and as ICT know only too well anything can happen in a TSC game. We need only remind ourselves of Partick who were at a very similar stage to Stirling last season who dumped us out on penalties.

Same team as St. Mirren for me but hopefully a bit more clinical with some of the chances we might create.

Oh yeah, party at Chibbers!  :015:

[+Gringo]

First and only time I've been to Forthbank was back in 1996 when we down 3-1 in the League Cup . We we're 3rd div at the time and they were 2nd (I think). No doubt that this fixture will be equally as difficult for ICT despite the differance in league positions - as we all know it counts for nothing in the TCS. I just hope ICT have the right frame of mind for this fixture and don't do an 'Ayr' or even worse a 'Partick'.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

BROWN

DODS  MUNRO HASTINGS

          DUNCAN

WILSON  BLACK  RANKIN MORGAN

DARGO

                      WYNESS

[DJS]

Blackie?  -  I'm not sure.

I still feel sore for the 6-2 walloping Caley got off them at Brokenville circa 1990 so I'll be hoping to get that out of my system.

[+Gringo]

Maybe CC should show the boys this (below) on the bus on the way down...

Stirling thrashed.

[Alex MacLeod]

I'll be there and I expect to see the team that started yesterday.

[Harry Chibber]

Yip party at mine :023:

Looking forward to not having to get a bus or head out on a 2 hour journey to make it to an ICT match for once... Stirling are a good team, so wont be an easy game but I hope that Zander, Morgan, Caff & McCallister get some time on the park

3-1 to us I tink!

I suggest a few drinks in the centre and then a taxi out to the stadium (or a very long walk!!)... O'Neils is not a bad boozer!

[clacher_holiday2]

3 of the team that started that game will start on saturday, im sure he wont need to remind any of them!

[Scotty]

                                Fraser

                        Caff  Dods  Munro

Sutherland  McBain  Duncan  Rankin  Hastings

                          Wyness  Bayne

SUBS (5 not 7)

Brown

Tokely

Morgan

Wilson

Dargo

Think thats adventurous enough, and it can easily be adapted to 4-4-2 without using a sub or to 3-4-3 by taking off one of the midfield and throwing on Barry or Dargo so that Barry or Denzil can play behind the front two if things go really well :) ... and with the subs listed the team can be re-arranged quite easily if Stirling were underestimated !!!

[clacher_holiday2]

crack not too expensive in canada then  :017:

think when a team is looking to start finding form again and build, they shouldnt be completley altered, id play our best 11 amd change it if theyre good enough.  the last thing we need just now is being beat by part timers because we've tinkered with the squad.

brown

tokely - dods - munro - hastings

wilson - duncan - rankin - morgan

dargo/wyness - bayne

[Yngwie]

I was last at Forthbank for that game we won 5-1 in Div 2, but I'm fairly sure it was just a few days after Stirling had beaten Hibs in one of the cups.

[caley100]

I dont think we should change the team, Strogest to start then see what happens, i was well impressed with Bayne and Denzil against Midden.

[nogbad the bad]

I dont often get to away games but that 1999 stirling match was one I did make. It was made memorable I think by the debut of Bobby Mann, and I remember thinking at the timel,

at last, a proper footballing centre half, we will go far with him. He was the best player on the pitch, read the game beautifully, showed great composure on the ball and distributed

superbly...it was from that moment on we started to make real progress as I recall. What has happened to him now, he doesn't seem to even get on the Dundee bench these days,

or is he a long term injury?

[Heilandee]

Bobby's been on the bench the last couple of weeks and unfortunately for his return chances, results have been going well and replacements performing well, last season he was player of the year by a country mile (their wisnae an affy lot oh competition in fairnesss) this year he sems to be that bit slower (if thats possible) still reads the game well and distribution is as good as ever,reckon he'll be back in the team shortly due to lack of cover but the writing may be on the wall for him  :007:

[Charles Bannerman]

DJS - if it's Caley (sic) you're talking about, why not go back a few more years to circa 1984 when Caley put Albion out of the Cup?! As it happens, when I went through to introduce myself to the then Albion manager Alex Smith, after he joined County, it was one of the first things we talked about.

On an historical note, my memory sometimes lets me down on this one. Was it the Stirling or the Berwick game in the mid 80s which went to a second replay at Methil where Urquhart clinched it with a classic header?

[caley100]

It was Berwick Charlie, on a feckin horrible cold night in the pit of Fife as i remember, did we play Hearts at Tynecastle in the next round?

[EWS]

Myself and at least one other will be making the short trip from Glasgow.

[Harry Chibber]

Google Map

I've had a word with the owner of Smith's bar (closest pub to the stadium) and they are happy to have us in for a few bevvies, only a walk away from forthbank

:003: :003: :003:

[Scotty]

think when a team is looking to start finding form again and build, they shouldnt be completley altered, id play our best 11 amd change it if theyre good enough.  the last thing we need just now is being beat by part timers because we've tinkered with the squad.

fair comment. although it may be an option to rest one or two players who have had a busy time of it over the Christmas period and give one or two fringe players a chance.

[Charles Bannerman]

Caley100 - piecing my recollections together, and thanks to your assistance, Caley (sic) beat  Alex Smith's Stirling in 84 to go to on to meet Rangers at Telford Street. Then in 86 it was Berwick with an Urquhart second replay header leading to a tie against Hearts at Tynecastle. Both runs ended in 6-0 defeats.

And in 87, the year Rangers were famously beaten by Hamilton, a 3-0 defeat for Caley by eventual cupwinners St. Mirren.

Come to think of it, what a period of Scottish Cup ties for a Highland League side!

1984 - Rangers, 1986 - Hearts, 1987 - St. Mirren, 1990 - defeat of Airdrie, 1992 - draw with St. Johnstone. Was there not a tie against Hibs in there somewhere as well around 1989? And of course we also have to throw in the epic Thistle 3-0 defeat of Kilmarnock in 1985 and progress to Celtic Park.

The "new " Caley Thistle going out 2-1 to QoS in the first round in 1994 came as a real anticlimax after that lot!

And an interesting blast from the past. Making the draw last month for this Saturday's 2007 third round were Alex Smith who won the cup with St. Mirren 20 years previously and Adrian Sprott who scored the goal which put Rangers out at the same stage the same season.

Were Stirling not also the team which beat Selkirk 20-0... in about 1985?

[caley100]

Just to throw another equation into the post Charles, did Billy not sign for Rangers after the cup defeat after he scored for us to make it 5-1?

[Charles Bannerman]

Interesting you should raise that one. There were pieces in Saturday's programme about both Billy and Davie and the Billy piece said that he was summoned to the Kingsmills Hotel after scoring two v Rangers in a friendly in I think 1978 and signed on the spot.

[The Mantis]

Signed by Greigy after getting 2 goals in a game that finished 6-3. Urq also scored a cracker of a winner after about 87 mins in the 1984 game away to Stirling. Albion had already printed the programmes since the Rangers match was on the following Saturday.

[Kingsmills]

A potential banana skin. we hardly shone in our four matches against second division oposition in the cup last season.

The first goal could be crucial.

[Harry Chibber]

first 3 goals are crucial