Stirling Albion welcome Elgin to Forthbank for first home league match of the season

Stirling Albion play their first home game of the League Two season when they welcome Elgin City to Forthbank on Saturday.

It was a bad start to the 2022/23 campaign for Darren Young’s men as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat to Dumbarton on the opening day. Declan Byrne scored twice inside five minutes and the Binos had left-back Cammy Clark sent off for a reckless challenge on Aron Lynas with 18 minutes left.

The summer signing from Annan will now serve a two-match ban, ruling him out of this weekend’s visit of Elgin and next week’s local derby at home to Stenhousemuir.

Elgin head for Forthbank on the back of a 3-1 loss to relegated East Fife, but Gavin Price’s men have an excellent record in Stirling.

The Black and Whites triumphed 2-0 on their last visit in April and also won 1-0 in Young’s first game as Albion boss back in December.

City have won four in a row at Forthbank since a Josh Peters goal earned Stirling a 1-0 win in September 2019.

Albion have a poor record in their first home league game of the season in recent times, losing 3-1 to Kelty Hearts 12 months ago after starting with a victory at Stenhousemuir.

Three years ago, they lost 1-0 to Queen’s Park although they did begin with a 0-0 draw against the Spiders in the Covid-delayed 2020/21 season when the Glasgow club went on to lift the title. The 2018/19 campaign saw Clyde triumph 3-0 at Forthbank after a defeat at Berwick in the opener.

You have to go back to August 2017 for a Stirling success in their first home league game when a Darren Smith double helped secure a 4-0 thumping of Berwick Rangers.

Dave Mackay’s men won their first four League Two matches that season and were top of the table until the autumn but eventually finished in third place and were