Stranraer's goals keep turning up somewhere else
A preview of Stranraer v Stirling Albion in League Two: two unbeaten sides, and a home attack that has gone quiet at Stair Park.
By Barrie Moran,
Stranraer have scored 13 goals in their last five League Two matches and conceded two. On those numbers alone you would expect Stair Park to be a miserable place to visit. The catch is where the goals went. All 13 came on the road: five at Elgin City, six at Annan Athletic, two at Spartans. The two home games in that run, against Edinburgh City and Clyde, both finished 0-0.
Stranraer at home and away
Strip it back and Stranraer have looked like two different sides. Away from home they have three wins, 13 scored and two conceded. At home they have two draws and no goals at either end. The constant is the defence, which has kept three clean sheets in five and has not let in more than one goal in any of them. That is a sound base wherever they play.
Two home matches is a wee sample, so I would not call it a settled pattern. But two goalless afternoons in a row at Stair Park is the detail that matters most going into Saturday, because that is where this one is being played.
Stirling Albion are busier at both ends
Stirling Albion are also unbeaten in five, with three wins and two draws, and their games have had more going on. They have scored ten, conceded five and kept one clean sheet. The 5-2 win over Forfar Athletic on 31 October accounts for seven of those 15 goals on its own. Their two away matches were tighter affairs: a 1-0 win at Annan Athletic and a 1-1 draw at Dumbarton.
That 1-0 at Annan sits awkwardly beside Stranraer's 6-1 at the same ground a week later. Read too much into it and you would make Stranraer favourites by a distance. A one-off scoreline against a shared opponent often says as much about that opponent's afternoon as anyone else's, so I will note it and move on. The other shared opponent, Clyde, held both sides: 0-0 at Stair Park and 1-1 at Stirling Albion.
The previous meeting
These sides last met on 22 August at Stirling Albion's ground, and it finished 2-2. It is a single result from nearly three months ago. It tells you they were evenly matched that day and not a great deal more.
Verdict
Two unbeaten sides meet here. One has a defence that has barely been breached and an attack that only seems to travel. The other scores freely at home and grinds out results away. Everything points to a tight afternoon. My view is a draw, and a low-scoring one. Stranraer's back line has earned the benefit of the doubt, and Stirling Albion's away results suggest they are comfortable in a close game.
What would change my mind is simple. If Stranraer bring even part of their away-day finishing home with them, they have the defence to make it count, and a home win becomes the likelier outcome. The last two games at Stair Park say that has not happened yet.