Stirling Albion boss Darren Young is backing his squad to step up to the plate after star winger Kai Fotheringham was recalled by his parent club Dundee United.
The teenager has been a key part of the Binos’ promotion-chasing campaign so far, contributing five goals and 12 assists in all competitions – the most recent involvement setting up Ross Davidson for his winner in the 1-0 victory over Stranraer last Saturday.
However, after Albion’s first game in the month, the celebrations were soured by the news on Wednesday afternoon that the 19-year-old was set to return to Tannadice, with the Arabs saying the move was to “continue his development in our first-team environment”.
It comes as a big blow ahead of Stirling’s trip to East Fife tomorrow – but Young insists he has the options in his squad to keep things moving. He said: “It is disappointing because Kai has been a big part of the team since his arrival.
“We have Dunsy [Aaron Dunsmore], Danny Denholm, Kieran Moore and Josh Cooper so we have options in that position and now it’s a chance for someone else to come in and stake their place in the team.
“It was a good win on Saturday so we’ll be trying to keep that going this weekend. I don’t think people realise how hard it is when you’re not playing for four weeks and your training is
disrupted.
“There is some hassle and stress with that but we have the right type of players to handle that and we made sure we put on a good performance and it was great to get a clean sheet in the process.”
Outside of the Fotheringham news, the Binos gaffer’s squad looks the healthiest it has been for months – with defender Jordan McGregor set to return from suspension in
Methil.
Albion added goalkeeper Mark Weir on loan from divisional rivals Bonnyrigg Rose to the end of the season, with Albion keeper Callum Law heading to West of Scotland side Benburb on loan in a related move.
“Callum [Law] has a two-year-deal and we had said that if someone wanted him then it would be good to him to get some game time”, Young added.
“Mark became available at the same time and he was man of the match against us in the first game over there so it allows us to have some competition for Blair [Currie].
“We dropped Kyle Banner back last week and played Jack Leitch, so it’s good to have the competition through the squad with Jordan back and also Scouse [Adam Cummins] fully fit.”
Kick off at Bayview is at 3pm.
