After the win over local rivals Falkirk last weekend it was more cup action at Forthbank on Saturday as Forfar Athletic visited in the CIS League Cup. Unlike the Alba League Challenge, the CIS Cup has some good prize money and with the likes of Hearts and Aberdeen possible second round opponents a win today was vital for the club coffers. Confidence would have been high in the Stirling camp following the victory over the Bairns but today was set to be a different challenge against a team most would have expected John O’Neill’s side to beat. Team lines for this afternoon’s encounter saw just the two changes from last weekend. One was enforced as the suspended Ross Forsyth was replaced at left back by Stewart Devine. The other switch was by choice as Scott Robertson slipped to the bench to allow Derek Colquhoun to partner Michael Mullen as the [... more]

After the shadow boxing of pre-season the gloves were off for real as the Alba League Challenge signalled the official start of the 2010/11 campaign. To spice things up even more the opponents in today’s cup clash were local rivals Falkirk. The Bairns were relegated to SFL1 on the last day of last season and manager Steven Pressley will be expected to lead them back to the promised land at the first attempt. Many people scoff at the League Challenge but for teams like Stirling, and especially Falkirk, it gives them the chance to reach a national final and win a trophy. Falkirk were big favourites for a comfortable win before kick-off but John O’Neill’s hastily assembled squad showed against Grimsby that they would be nobodies fools. Team lines for the Beanos were along expected lines. Making competitive debuts for the home side were Martyn Corrigan, Scot Buist and John [... more]

The second and last of Stirling’s pre-season encounters saw English side Grimsby Town visiting Forthbank. The side from Cleethorpes were relegated from the Football League last season but as a full-time team were sure to provide a good work out for John O’Neill’s men. With Falkirk in town on Saturday the Beanos fans would have been looking for a sign that their favourites will be in a position to give the Bairns a good game. A win and a some goals would certainly have been a good boost to home hopes for the games ahead. Team lines for the Albion showed several players still listed as trialists despite being as good as signed (John Kane, Scot Buist, Calum Reidford). On the other hand Stewart Devine was not listed as a trialist even though the manager said on Saturday that he hadn’t been resigned. The main interest of the genuine trialists [... more]

Stirling Albion’s pre-season build up become public today as they entertained Hamilton Accies in an open door friendly at Forthbank Stadium. As well as being our first viewable game of the season it was also the first match with under the new Supporters Trust regime. Friendlies are not everybody’s cup of tea but at least this year we only have a couple before the competitive action begins next weekend.

The Beanos mix of signed players and trialists got off to a bad start when the visitors went a goal up after only a few minutes when the trialist number 9 glanced home a header. After this the home side gave as good as they got although you always felt Hamilton were capable of lifting the pace at any moment. The bizarre sight of an entirely new Accies XI wearing different strips to the opening half reminded you we were in pre-season mode. The second period was more closely fought than the first and Stirling went close to an equaliser on a couple of occasions. However, Accies had the last word when they scored a second goal following a slip from skipper Ross Forsyth. [... more]

The BuyStirlingAlbion campaign reached a historic conclusion this morning. At a 10:30am press conference at Forthbank it was announced that Peter McKenzie had agreed to sell his majority shareholding in Stirling Albion FC to the Supporters Trust. A statement on the BuyStirlingAlbion site said: It is with great pleasure that we can announce that the Buy Stirling Albion campaign has ended in success! You, our members, are now the owners of a professional football club! Members of the campaign steering group have been locked in negotiations for the past month and this week signed a deal which means that, as of now Stirling Albion is Scotland’s first ever fan-owned senior team! Of course, the hard work only begins now but it would be wrong not to take a moment to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported the campaign so far. Without you, none of this would [... more]