Stirling kept up there recent run of form with a fantastic win over promotion candidates Stranraer. No changes where made to the team that drew with Morton in mid-week, however, Canning was now listed as a player instead of a trialist and new signing Chris Aitken featured from the bench. Stranraer went into the game minus David Graham who was sold to Gretna during the week, but the Stranraer management team kept the same 4-5-1 tactics. After a pretty even first half in which Stirling took the lead through David O'Brien, Stirling dominated the second half and loan signing Paul Di Gaicomo showed his class by scoring a brace to help take all three points back to Stirling. This result kept up Stranraer's long winless streak against the Binos and Stranraer must surely now be feeling the pressure after 3 straight home defeats.

Stirling Albion Supporters Club have arranged a Race night and disco at Tarten Arms (McCues), Bannockburn for Friday 4th March at 7-45pm. The money will go towards running the supporters bus every other week and help fund the player of the year dance in May. Tickets priced £1 per person (Free 50p bet on first race) are available from Jimmy Watson or Stef Torrence or alternatively you can pay at the door on the night. A limited amount of races are available to be sponsored for £25 each and the website is proud to be one of those sponsors. Hopefully there will be a good turn out to raise a lot of money for the Supporters club.

Stirling have signed both Mark Canning and Chris Aitken before the transfer window closes to bolster there midfield options. Canning has already impressed the Binos faithful in his 2 outings for the Binos so far as a trialist, whilst Aitken was freed by Hamilton Accies yesterday so that he could sign for the Binos. Canning has played 4+3 first team appearances with SPL outfit Kilmarnock and scored one goal against Livingston at the end of last season, whilst Aitken has played for Morton, Clyde and most recently Hamilton in which he scored 10 goals in last seasons promotion winning season with the Accies. Both players are expected to feature in the first team against Stranraer today.

The Supporters Trust are at present arranging a fundraising football quiz nights scheduled for the end of March beginning of April. This will take the form of two qualifying nights with a final night. There will be cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. at present we hope the first prize will be near £200 but this has to be confirmed. It is hoped we can get 40 teams of 4 costing £16.00 per team (£4 per person) split evenly to play over two nights with X amount then qualifying for the finals night. The qualifying rounds will be on the 29th & 30th of March with the finals the following week on the 5th April and will take place at the Linden Inn in Stirling.
We are at present developing an application form for the teams, if anybody who is interested in putting forward a team please contact Graham at albinos@tiscali.co.uk for an application form. Thanks Graham.

Stirling went into this game with McLean, Rowe and Roycroft all out injured. In came debutant Robert Dunn and both Paul Di Giacomo and Martin Canning made there home debuts although Canning was listed as a trialist. Morton took an early lead, but after that Stirling went onto dominate the game and there goalkeeper made at least 3 world class saves to keep the Greenock team ahead. In the end, he was eventually beaten when the ever impressive Paul Di Giacomo scored his first goal for the club and his first goal since the 2002/03 season.

Todays game against Morton had a 10am pitch inspection and the referee felt that the pitch was unplayable due to the over night frost that hit Stirling. With Stirling having had no home games since the 27th December and no further home game till the 12th February, then this game put's pressure on a already debt ridden club. The club looks like it's made a quick decision to reschedule the game for this Wednesday night (26th Jan.) with a 7-30pm kick off.

Stirlingalbion.com brought you news that Dumbarton manager Paul Martin was interested in taking James Allan to Dumbarton over a month ago. It seems that after tonight he will sign for Dumbarton and Robert Dunn will sign for the Binos. Dunn played for a season for us in 2002/03 in Moore's first season as a manager. Dunn racked up 36 appearances that season (most on the wing) and scored 6 goals. Dunn then signed on for St Mirren and then onto Dumbarton at the start of this season where he made 9+6 appearances scoring 3 goals.

Colin Hamilton has been bringing funny Binos related cartoons all season and has just added his second for the New Year. As ever they are extremely funny and well worth a look for all football fans. Clicking on the link below will take you to his own website where the cartoons are on display. Colin also has framed cartoons available to buy from the club shop that would make great gifts for all Stirling supporters. Colin also does private work and all these details are available on his website as well.

Stirlingalbion.com is committed to bringing you the latest Young Reds updates as soon as we hear about them. If you click on the link below, you will find the up and coming details for the Young Reds. Many thanks again to Ian Jones and all the Young Reds committee.

The Binos put in yet another gutless performance and we're soundly beaten by a Forfar team who where third bottom in the league. Several changes where made from the team that got beat by Arbroath at the back end of last year. Barry Neville came in at right back for the suspended Paul Nugent, George made his come back from injury, Paul Hay featured at left back, whilst Kevin MacDonald was pushed out to the right midfield slot, trialist Mark Canning played in the centre with Craig Ferguson, Douglas Wilson made his first start of the season up front along side Paul Di Giacomo who made his debut. The team was obviously make shift with a few key players being injured or suspended, but the effort and commitment on show was terrible. Douglas Wilson who was played out of position and Paul Di Giacomo are the only players to get any pass marks. David O'Brien scored the Binos consolation goal, whilst Mark McNally got sent off again this season with the Binos faithful cheering his red card. Match Report available below.

As the Stirling Observer failed to print the latest news this week, I would like to make this appeal through the website.
There is one week to go for the closing date for registering for the next block of Soccer Sevens and also for the trip to Dumbarton on 5th February.
To date, 41 have registered for the Soccer Sevens. While this sounds good, we had 96 at the end of the last block. If any Young Red wishes to register for the Soccer Sevens, could they send in the form by 21st January. If we have a lot turning up on the first night who haven't pre-registered, it will be chaotic.
Secondly, we intend to take the Young Reds to the Dumbarton match. However, only 10 members have registered so far. Dumbarton's stadium is one of the best for children to go to and a good turn out is asked. We also have a limited number of spaces if any member would like to bring their parent or guardian along. Closing date for registration is 22nd January.

From the publishers of the Forthbank News comes a one off edition celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the famous 20-0 game against Selkirk. This 68 page A4 sized book has interviews with most of the team that played against Selkirk and much more about the Albion team of that time. This book is not available in shops and is a very limited edition. The cost is £4-00 plus £1-50 for postage and packaging. This book is currently available on E-bay, where a wide range of Stirling Albion programmes are available as well. Alternatively you can buy it direct from:

Allan Grieve
11 Harviestoun Grove
Tillicoultry
Clackmannanshire
FK13 6QS

Cheques payable to Allan Grieve, or pay by Paypal to ADGrieve@aol.com

Stirling have today signed Paul Di Giacamo on a loan deal till the end of the season. The Kilmarnock 22 year old, 5 foot 9 inch striker hasn't featured this season, but he may well prove to be a great signing for the Binos. Midfielder Mark Canning is also set to sign for the Binos as his contract has been terminated by the Ayrshire club and the Binos are now in talks with him. More details will appear later.

Colin Hamilton has been bringing funny Binos related cartoons all season and has just added his first for the New Year. As ever they are extremely funny and the new one is themed on the Alloa game being cancelled. Clicking on the link below will take you to his own website where the cartoons are on display. Colin also has framed cartoons available to buy from the club shop that would make great gifts for all Stirling supporters. Colin also does private work and all these details are available on his website as well.

The derby game against Alloa was cancelled at the very last minute after the pitch inspection at 2pm found that the pitch was water-logged. On reflection this has worked out to Stirling's advantage with so many players out and Alloa on a good run. The only disadvantage being that the next game isn't till the 15 January due to Stirling being out of the cup.