MATCH PREVIEW: Stranraer v Forfar Atheltic

The ‘Loons’ make the long trek to Stair Park on Saturday to tackle league leaders Stranraer on the back of having lost their unbeaten home record in last weekend’s derby fixture.

They will travel to meet a home side who triumphed 2-0 in their ‘derby’ fixture at Ayr last Saturday thanks to goals from top scorers Jamie Longworth and Craig Malcolm, this victory coming on the back of a shock 2-0 home defeat the previous week from Stenhousemuir. That result brought to a halt an eighteen match unbeaten run in normal play for Stephen Aitken’s side.

That run apart from seeing them move to their lofty position in the league table had also seen the Stair Park side reach the semi final of the Petrofac Cup where they lost out on penalties to Livingston and reach the last sixteen of the William Hill Scottish Cup where they have a lucrative televised home tie with Dundee United to look forward to.

Forfar will head south with no new injury worries. The departed Jim Paterson will obviously be missing but on the plus side, the vast majority of the players who were not in last Saturday’s line-up gained valuable game time in a friendly on Tuesday evening. The Station Park management team will have to decide whether to introduce new signing Michael Travis to the starting line-up or perhaps there could be a recall for Stuart Malcom.

Dick has also hinted that he is considering freshening up other areas of the side after a couple of disappointing performances. However it is far from a ‘doom and gloom’ scenario with the Athies sitting in second spot and a victory on Saturday would see them again level on points at the top with their opponents. 

A repeat of last term’s 4-0 success would be a real tonic for the hardy bunch of fans who are making the 380 mile round trip to back their favourites.

Both games between the sides have been drawn this season, the score line on both occasions 1-1. On the season’s opening day Longworth gave Stranraer a 17th minute lead, Stuart Malcom netting the second half equaliser. At Station Park in October on a day marred by a gale force wind, Sean Winter gave the visitors the advantage within the first minute, Dale Hilson netting the equaliser on the stroke of half-time.

The man in the middle on Saturday is Dunbartonshire based Euan Anderson now in his fourth season as a Grade One official.