Stirling Albion assistant manager Martyn Corrigan revealed he is happy with how the Binos are shaping up ahead of the new season.

Albion return to competitive action on Saturday when they host Falkirk in the group stage of the Betfred Cup, and the ex-Stenhousemuir manager believes the game against his former club will provide a good test for his players.

Corrigan told Stirling News Sport: “I was at Falkirk for six years so it will be good to come up against them. Peter Houston did a great job with them last season and they were very unlucky not to get promoted. That will be a good test for the players ahead of the league season starting.

“The cup games are coming in quite fast, with four of them to build for, but the most important thing for us is the league starting. It is important that we go on a decent run in the cup but we are building towards the league campaign. We have four games which we will be looking forward to and the boys will be working hard to prepare for the first few league games.”

Albion will be without Ross McGeachie and Aurelien Mazel on Saturday, with the latter likely to be missing for a number of weeks, and Corrigan admitted the loss of the Frenchman is a blow.

He said: “Ross McGeachie is hoping to start training again next week so he is ok. Aurelien Mazel is unfortunately going to miss the start of the season. He may need an operation on his knee so we will have to wait and see. Apart from that, we have a clean bill of health. The boys are looking sharp and spirits are high.”

Corrigan took charge of the Binos as they completed their pre-season preparations with a friendly victory over Cumbernauld Colts, and the assistant was pleased with what he saw from his players.

He added: “We did well. It was a good exercise for the boys and our fitness levels looked good. We looked sharp going forward and created a lot of chances. We had a lot of pace in the team going forward too. We are happy enough after that.”