Stranraer : Arbroath preview - Knox calls for Stranraer response

Posted Saturday, August 11, 2012 by PA

Centre-back David MacGregor will be Stranraer's only absentee for the home clash against Arbroath due to a knee injury.

Manager Keith Knox will be looking for a positive response from his players following last Saturday's 8-0 defeat against Livingston.

Knox said: "I have put last weekend down to a bad day at the office and as bad as we were Livingston put on a terrific performance.

"I am looking for the players to react well to losing heavily by shutting out an Arbroath side who are also very good going forward.

"We have had bad results at the start of the last two seasons and gone on to have good runs so we know we can shrug things off and move forward. Beating Arbroath would be a great first step in doing that."

Arbroath are without centre-backs Scott Robertson and Stuart Malcolm.

Attacking midfielder Daniel Rennie is also absent due to a suspension picked up from his East of Scotland League days.

Arbroath return to Stair Park with happy memories having picked up a vital victory at the ground on route to their Third Division title success in 2010/11.

Manager Paul Sheerin said: "We came here in the January and won a really difficult game 4-3 and everything kicked on fantastically well after that. Gavin Swankie scored a hat-trick and we had two players sent off so it was an incident-packed game.

"It would be great to start this Second Division with a similar success, although I recognise it will be difficult as Keith Knox will have his players fired up to make up for losing heavily to Livingston last Saturday."