By Connor Ryan
The basement battle of League 2 rages on as we make the long travel to Borough Briggs as we take on Elgin City this Saturday.
Despite the defeat to Forfar last weekend, the chance for a play-off spot is still on for Rovers as we currently sit six points behind tomorrow’s opposition who reside in fourth.
Encounters VS Elgin City this season
A previous encounter this season against Elgin City resulted in a 1-0 defeat away from home due to a Jake Dolzanski strike 15 minutes before full time.
The other fixture against Elgin City was postponed due to the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, resulting in the game being rescheduled to Tuesday, February 21, with a 7:45pm kick-off at the Reigart Stadium.
Elgin City summary
Elgin City have been struggling a little with the turn of the year as they have managed one win out of their last four league games, which was a 1-0 win away to Forfar Athletic.
However, they do find themselves in the last 16 of the Scottish Cup after beating Drumchapel United 2-1 in the previous round, setting up a tie away to high flying Championship side Ayr United.
Rovers will have to remain extremely wary against Elgin striker Kane Hester who is the current joint Cinch League 2 top goal scorer with 15 goals from 21 games, joint top with Tommy Goss of Annan Athletic.
Hester did manage to bag four goals against Rovers last season, including a hat trick in a 3-0 win at Borough Briggs.
Rovers will also need to watch out for the creativity of winger Russell Dingwall who is 5th in the assists chart with six in 21 while also chipping in with nine goals himself.
A win for Gavin Price’s men could see them lift themselves into 3rd place above Annan Athletic with a game in hand.
Albion Rovers summary
Rovers on the other hand will be looking to quickly bounce back from our defeat to Forfar last weekend and continue both our successful start to the year and our successful run on the road.
The players will know that they will need to challenge Daniel Hoban in the Elgin City net far more than they did for Marc McCallum of Forfar who had a quiet game last Saturday.
It will likely be a similar line-up for Rovers tomorrow to the one that played against Forfar, with Sean Fagan, Liam Fagan, and Michael Paton still out with injury. Sean however is nearing closer to a return to the squad.
There are also no suspensions for Saturday’s game.
The current Cinch League 2 table
- Dumbarton (P-20 GD-15 PTS-43)
- Stirling Albion (P-19 GD- 19 PTS-39)
- Annan Athletic (P-22 GD-3 PTS-30)
- Elgin City (P-21 GD-0 PTS-29)
- Forfar Athletic (P-21 GD-(-4) PTS-28)
- Stenhousemuir (P-21 GD-(-3) PTS-27)
- East Fife (P-22 GD-(-7) PTS-26)
- Stranraer (P-22 GD-(-9) PTS-26)
- Albion Rovers (P-21 GD-(-1) PTS-23)
- Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic (P-21 GD-(-13) PTS-20)
Brian Reid post-match vs Forfar
Manager Brian Reid shared these thoughts and felt Rovers were unlucky against Forfar with some positives being able to be taken from the 1-0 defeat.
Brian’s post-match interview can be found here:
Ticketing information for Saturday
Ticketing information for Saturday’s match can be found below:
