Stenhousemuir v Forfar Athletic – Match Preview

Ochilview is the venue for the ‘Loons’ first Premier Sports Cup outing of the new season on Saturday first, the opponents Stenhosuemuir who ended last season on a high by clinching promotion to the SPFL Championship for the first time in their history with a play-off victory over local rivals Alloa Atheltic.

Gary Naysmith the manager who master minded that success then headed off to pastures new at Ayr United, his replacement former Livingston ‘gaffer’ Marvin Bartley.

The ‘Warriors’ will undoubtedly prove tough opening day opponents for the Athies, a fact acknowledged by manager Jim Weir, the match if anything coming at least a week or so early in terms of pre-season preparation for his side.

The squad numbers for the visit to the central belt are also stretched with Craig Slater and newcomer Aaron Arnott ruled out through injury and Matty Allan and Martin Rennie unavailable.

This leaves the management team with a fifteen man squad for the tie, one or two youngsters likely to find a place on the bench on the day.

However the manager re-affirmed after Tuesday night’s friendly with Peterhead that the quest naturally continues to bolster the squad, no easy task when finances are tight.

Neil Stafford who returned to the club in midweek will be available while Adam Brown and Adam Livingstone are in line to make their senior doubt for their new club.

Saturday’s opponents have lost a  handful of players from last season’s squad and their manager has been a busy man this week bringing in Callum Penman and Lewis Hodgkiss on loan from St. Mirren and Matthew Gillies and Gus Stevenson as part of a co-operation agreement with Hearts.

The ninety minutes ahead at the weekend will certainly be a fair test of Forfar Athletic’s resolve as they continue to build towards the opening League2 fixture in three weeks time when Kelty will be the visitors to the ‘toonie.’

The referee at Ochilview is FIFA official Ryan Lee and the match has a 3p.m. kick-off.

Admission charges are along the same lines as being charged by the ‘Loon s’ for their home fixtures in Group E, namely;-

Adults £15

Concessions £10

Under 16’s £5

Tickets can be bought in advance, see Stenhousemuir’s social media channels for full details.

The other fixture in the group on Saturday is at Firhill where Partick Thistle entertain Brechin City.

On Tuesday evening of next week, the ‘Jags’ are the visitors to the Parkgrove Stadium @ Station Park, while the top seeds in the section Livingston are up the road at Glebe Park.