Stirring it up!

MATTHEW CHAMBERS ON PRE-SEASON TOUR WITH LATICS

“MAKE sure you write in the Chronicle that Dean Holden makes an excellent brew,” said Darren Kelly, pinching his thumb and index finger together to indicate approval.

“Good to have an extra string to your bow,” replied Holden, stirring a tea while the players enjoyed — or ate, anyway — a pre-match meal of plain chicken, rice, broccoli and carrots.

Glance out of the window and swans congregate around a minor lake, compared to the large loch in the centre of the quaint grounds at the University of Stirling.

The players, who are staying in dormitories of seven apiece, returned to their digs to prepare for last night’s friendly with St Mirren.

Athletic’s in-house media team, by contrast, are staying in the comparitively swanky Stirling Court Hotel. The disparity was mentioned by a few slightly disgruntled players who would also have preferred more than a patchy mobile phone signal and no wifi connection close to their base on the fringe of the campus.

The previous night, the management team who sat together chewing the fat after their food took in a friendly game between Stirling Albion and Hearts for an insight into Friday night’s opponents.

First up, though, was a game on one of the university pitches against the side from Paisley. It wasn’t much of a spectacle — Athletic lost 1-0 to a second-half strike and rested a host of players suffering stretches and strains — but it is unwise to read too much into such a result.

There were at least some promising displays: Lee Croft worked typically hard and new goalkeeper David Cornell was vocal and confident, while George Green showed flashes of inspiration.

Oh, and the infamous passport-bringer? Turns out there is not just one — there are a few. And they are all sticking to the same story: it is purely for ID purposes, ahead of a possible night off with a beer or two, and not in preparation for border control. Hmm.