Stirling Albion star Willie Robertson is aiming high as he looks to help the Binos to an immediate return to League One.

The midfielder was insisted he and his team-mates would be disappointed with anything other than automatic promotion despite manager Stuart McLaren making wholesale changes at Forthbank.

Robertson told Stirling News Sport: “It’s been good to meet all the new boys. It looks like we have a really strong team this year. Pre-season has been very, very hard but all the boys are looking fit. It’s very early doors but all of them look like great additions.

“We should be looking to win League Two next season with the players we have on board. We just need to maintain our form and keep getting results through the season. To be honest, with the squad we have, I don’t think we should be looking to do anything other than win the division next season. We are capable of going up comfortably.” The former Dundee United, Forfar and Alloa man admitted the Binos’ pre-season friendlies against Hearts and Oldham would be vital ahead of the new campaign.

He added: “In pre-season, I think you should be trying to play against higher-level teams like Hearts and Oldham who are playing full-time football. It gives us a chance to see how our fitness is and what we need to work on going into the competitive games. It gives the gaffer a chance to assess the squad and maybe fine-tune the system which is important because a couple of weeks after the second friendly we are straight into a cup game. It will be a challenge playing against full-time teams because they will be a lot fitter and a lot better on the ball than a lot of us as they are in training every day, but it’s going to give us a good test.” Robertson was cautiously confident after Albion were handed a meeting with Elgin in the first round of the Petrofac Training Cup.

He said: “We played Elgin last year while I was on trial and we won 3-0. Being honest, I think we are a level above Elgin, but we can’t be complacent. We need to make sure we prepare properly and hopefully the result will come. We’re hoping a few big names get knocked out in the first round and we come back having progressed in the competition.”