Dunfermline v Stirling - McCabe tells Pars to raise their game

Posted Saturday, October 30, 2010 by PA

Dunfermline will be without Jack Ross, Alex Burke and Nicky Phinn through injury for the visit of Stirling to East End Park.

The Pars lost top spot in the table to Raith last weekend after their 2-2 draw at Dundee, and they have been told to be more ruthless.

Assistant manager Gerry McCabe said: "We had the chance to kill off Dundee and failed to do it, and then a couple of mistakes allowed them to get level.

"Stirling have improved since we defeated them 5-1 earlier in the season but we have players that can hurt teams and we want the win to take full advantage of any points dropped elsewhere.

"The boys have been told to get ahead, stay ahead and to cut out the errors at the back."

Stirling are without Ross Forsyth and Chris Aitken for the clash although Jonathan Brown returns to the fold after suspension.

Defender Forsyth has a foot injury while midfielder Chris Aitken is serving a ban of his own, with their absence countered by the return of on-loan Hearts full-back Brown after his one-game absence.

A deal to bring former Dundee midfielder Paul McHale to the club is still being worked on and he will be included if everything goes to plan before kick-off.

Stirling boss John O'Neill said: "Games do not come much tougher than this one but we have improved a lot since we last played Dunfermline and hopefully the boys will show that.

"We went to Raith and won recently so we know we can go to tough venues and pick up wins."