Albion Rovers’ 120-year stay in the senior ranks is on the line over the next two weeks and boss Sandy Clark admits it would “mean the world” to him and their supporters to beat relegation to the Lowland League.
Despite upsetting League Two champions Stirling Albion 2-0 on Saturday, it wasn’t enough to stop the Coatbridge club finishing at the bottom of the pile after 36 games.
They now become the dreaded ‘Club 42’ who go into a two-leg pyramid play-off for their SPFL survival and it is Lowland League champions Spartans who can send them through the trap door.
Wee Rovers fans are all too aware that former SPFL rivals East Stirling, Berwick Rangers, Brechin City and Cowdenbeath have all been relegated to the fifth tier in recent years and are yet to return.
Indeed, a conversation overheard between a Binos fan and an elder Rovers fan on Saturday, no doubt, summed up the feelings of the Cliftonhill faithful at this crucial juncture in their history.
“I’m just here to see if this wee club of ours can survive,” he sighed. “I think if we go down, we won’t come back up.”
Supporters of all generations turned out at Cliftonhill on Saturday to cheer their heroes on and while it didn’t deliver the outcome they had hoped for, the result and performance will give Rovers confidence going into the biggest games in their 141-year history.
Rovers take the first step in their survival bid this Saturday when they travel to Ainslie Park for the first leg of the play-off final, before welcoming the Edinburgh side to Monklands on May 20.
Clark – who in his first spell at the club 10 years ago helped them win the League Two title as assistant to Darren Young – knows their loyal fan base will be there for the team in their time of need.
And Clark said: “I’m sure it means the world to the Albion Rovers fans for us to stay up and, believe me, it means the world to me as well.
“It becomes about pride and determination, and you don’t want to end up moving down the way.
“We will be giving it everything we’ve got to try and get the right result for this club in the next two games.
“The fans have been brilliant since I came to the club and they have got a big part to play over the next two weeks.
“There was a great atmosphere against Stirling and we’ll need that here [at Cliftonhill] again for the second leg.”
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