Stirling Albion manager Stuart McLaren was full of praise for new recruit Ross Smith after the defender became the Binos’ sixth signing of the summer. writes Jamie Hall.

The former Dundee United and Peterhead defender joins Jon Paul McGovern, Mark Staunton, Ross McMillan, Sean Dickson and Chris Smith in making the move to Forthbank, and the Albion manager stressed that the 23-year-old would be a vital part of his side’s bid to return to League One at the first attempt.

McLaren told Stirling News Sport: “Ross is somebody who has great quality as a defender. He’s very adept in the air, he’s a strong tackler and he understands and reads the game very well. He ticks all the boxes in terms of the criteria we were looking at. He is also somebody who is very driven and strives very hard to achieve his potential.

“He’s been a good performer for Peterhead over the past couple of seasons but I think he feels that coming to us now is an opportunity to really advance his career and when somebody has that drive and ambition, it’s brilliant to have them in the squad.

“For somebody who is still relatively young, he has a good level of experience. He has played a good number of senior games and he wants to go on and play at a higher level. Having Scotland caps and any level and playing for a top flight club as he has done is an indication of his ability and the potential he has shown.

“We hope that we can provide him with an environment that will allow him to go on and play at a higher level, whether that is League One with us, the Championship or even higher.” The Binos boss was thrilled to have secured Smith’s services for next season despite the former Scotland Under-19 international being offered the chance to stay in League One by Peterhead.

He added: “I think it’s another indication of the attraction that players see when they come here. I think the players see a good club and a good working environment, and I think they see the opportunity to be a part of something that we are growing and building here. We have managed to sign a few players in a similar mould, and several of them had offers from League One or higher, but they want to play their part in Stirling Albion reaching its potential as a club.” McLaren admitted his attention would now turn to bringing in a striker in order to bolster his attacking options, with Steven Doris, Sandy Cunningham and Chris Paton the only attackers in the Binos first team squad.

However, the manager was adamant that members of his Under-20 squad were capable of making the step up and insisted he would only bring in new faces who would improve the overall quality of the squad.

He said: “I’m more than satisfied with what we’ve got in terms of goalkeepers, defenders and midfielders, but we could be doing with adding another striker so that is where the focus is at the moment. If there is a way of adding good quality players in any position who we feel can add something to the group then we will definitely do that, but in terms of our priority, it is definitely bringing in another attacking player.

“We also have a lot of capable players in our Under-20s and some of those are attacking players, so we will only go out and bring someone to the club if we feel they are better than what we already have.

“If that player is not available, then we have every faith that our young players, like Chris Paton, who has a great opportunity as part of the full squad, and a couple of others like Greg Hurst and Conor McKenzie, will come into the first team and do job if they are asked to.”