Aaron Dunsmore admits it will be a “strange feeling” when he returns to East Fife as a Stirling Albion player tomorrow – but has his eyes focused on the prize of three more League Two points.
The 26-year-old full-back, who initially joined the Binos on loan from the Methil club last season before making the move permanent in the summer, spent five seasons in Fife.
Now he’s part of an Albion squad aiming to keep up the momentum generated by a pair of comfortable wins in the last two games by knocking off the Fifers, who were relegated from League One last season.
Stirling currently sit second in the table after an excellent 4-1 away win at Forfar last weekend, with another strong first-half display seeing the visitors racking up a three-goal half-time lead with goals from Paul McLean, Cammy Clark and Dale Carrick.
Forfar pulled one back on the hour mark, but on-loan teenager Kai Fotheringham put the game beyond doubt shortly afterwards.
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A tricky trip to Bayview now awaits to take on a side without a manager after the departure of Stevie Crawford, who has taken on the role of assistant manager at Dundee United.
Dunsmore said: “It will be a strange feeling to be honest. I obviously came down to League Two when I joined on loan last season so I didn’t really think about playing them but it will be weird sitting in the away changing room after five years there.
“We know they’ve got a good team and that it will be a very close game.
“It seems to be clicking for us in the last three or four games since Annan and there is lots of competition for places in the squad and that really helps people strive to be better.
“That competition really makes the difference at part-time level because we have people doing various jobs and so you will have injuries or people working away. It’s nice to know you can rely on the squad and keep the performances high.”
The East Fife clash represents the end of the opening quarter of fixtures for Albion and the defender has stressed the role of manager Darren Young in giving his squad targets to aim for as the season progresses.
Dunsmore added: “He’s done that for years, even back to his years at East Fife, he’ll sit us down after nine games and how many points we’re striving to get in that quarter.
“He knows how many points get you into the play-offs and have you pushing for promotion and the start to the season has given us confidence about what we can do against the teams in the division.”
