After a weekend off, Stirling Albion return to action in the second round of the William Hill Scottish Cup on Saturday with a home tie against Strathspey Thistle.
Kevin Rutkiewicz: “A cup run is very important to the club and we will go with as strong a team as possible. We are unbeaten in our last four games – we have drawn the last three but could have won them all. We are creating plenty chances now but need to take more of them.”
Team news: Defenders Gareth Rodger and Jordan Lowdon are both still sidelined and it looks as if top scorer Josh Peters – who started out at Strathspey Thistle – and Dylan Bikey will also miss out again.
Opponents: Strathspey Thistle beat Lossiemouth 2-1 in the first round and Gordon Nicolson’s side are appearing at this stage for the first time. Based in Grantown-on-Spey, they are 12th out of 17 in the Highland League, having lost narrowly to Deveronvale (2-3) and Inverurie Locos (0-1) in their last two matches.
Past meetings: This is the first competitive meeting between the teams but we won 4-0 in a pre-season friendly at Seafield Park in July 2012. Our last Scottish Cup tie against Highland League opponents was in December 2016 when we beat Wick Academy 2-0 at Forthbank, with Dylan Bikey scoring on his debut.
Referee: Chris Fordyce
Admission: Adults £12, Seniors & Students £8, Under 16s £5, U12s free. Season tickets are not valid.
Replay date: If the game ends in a draw, the replay will take place on Saturday October 26, which would cause the below match to be rearranged…
Third round: The draw takes place on Sportscene on Sunday evening, with ties to be played on Saturday November 23.
Our next game: Stirling Albion v Cowdenbeath – 26/10/19
