It was a busy first week of the hectic January transfer window for Stirling Albion – and boss Darren Young is hoping his new additions can help his squad stay on their toes in the League Two promotion fight.
The Binos retained the services of star winger Kai Fotheringham, on loan from Dundee United, to the end of the season, while adding a pair of new faces in fellow Tangerine loanee Flynn Duffy and experienced forward Greig Spence.
They were prepared to unleash their signings in the crunch game for promotion against Dumbarton on Saturday – but the match was postponed after falling foul to a late pitch inspection.
Young insists he has already noticed the impact of the fresh faces at training and says he will have no qualms in making changes to his side if standards slip. The manager said: “We’re delighted to get Kai back in and Flynn helps give us competition on the left side because Cammy has already been sent off twice this season and is facing a four or five-game ban if it happens again.
“Greig can hopefully provide us more competition with the strikers, Spencey has been there and done it and he should be a good addition to us, he has scored a lot of goals recently and at 30, he should just be in his peak for a striker.
“He’s a goalscorer, but more of a poacher type which is different to the forwards that we have currently.
“Flynn was a name that came up at the end of the season because he was on loan at Peterhead last season and with Cammy’s situation being at risk of a long ban depending on a referee’s decision, we felt it was important to bring someone in.
“Competition in the squad was something we were looking at and that means that if players don’t perform, then they will have to fight for their place. The guys need to stay on their toes and the standard has picked up at training because they know they need to perform.
“We’ve done everything we wanted to do and it would probably have to be someone exceptional to come in.
“We could have waited until the end of January but wanted all of our business done early if we could.”
The postponement of Saturday’s fixture means a likely trip to the Rock in an upcoming midweek, but Young insists his side are ready to go whenever called upon.
“It was disappointing from our point of view that the game was called off but their assistant manager and goalie coach were on the park trying to get it on so it was just one of these things”, Young added.
“It’s not ideal having to go there midweek but it’s the same for both teams.”
