10 things about Stranraer

Stranraer take on Livingston in the semi-finals of the Petrofac Training Cup at the Energy Assets Arena on Sunday, live on BBC ALBA at 4.05pm.

Here are 10 things you might, or might not, know about the League 1 club from the far south west of the country.

1 Stranraer were formed in 1870, making them the third oldest club in Scotland behind Queen's Park (1867) and Kilmarnock (1869).

2 Stranraer were granted full membership of the Scottish Football League ahead of season 1955/56 - they finished 12th out of 19 in their debut campaign in Division B.

3 John ‘Lolly’ McCutcheon is one of the most revered Stranraer players. He joined in the 1940s and scored an incredible 238 goals in 239 games before retiring in 1958. Another club legend is defender Keith Knox – he played more than 300 games and also had a spell as manager.

4 The Blues lifted the Challenge Cup in 1996/97, with a shock 1-0 win over St Johnstone at Broadwood. Campbell Money was the manager at the time and Stranraer were in Division Two but they got the better of their opponents from Perth, who were runaway champions in Division One that season.

5 Stranraer have never gone beyond the last eight in either of the two major cup competitions. They reached the League Cup quarter-finals in 1968/69 but suffered a 10-0 aggregate defeat to Dundee. They made the Scottish Cup quarter-finals in 2002/03 but went down 4-0 at home to Motherwell.

6 Stranraer won the Second Division in 1993/94 when Alex McAnespie was manager, in the final season of the three-league system, but finished bottom of Division One the following year. They won the Second Division again in 1997/98, finishing a point clear of Clydebank but again were relegated a year later. Neil Watt guided Stranraer to the Third Division Championship in 2003/04 and the club were promoted again 12 months later, as runners-up to Brechin City.

7 Stair Park, home of Stranraer, housed its record crowd of 6,500 in January 1948 when Rangers visited for a Scottish Cup tie. A new stand was built in the mid-1990s and has 1,500 seats.

8 Stranraer’s record victory is 9-0 – a score they have achieved twice in recent years. They beat St Cuthbert Wanderers in a Scottish Cup tie at Stair Park in October 2010 and 12 months later thrashed Wigton & Bladnoch away from home, again by 9-0.

9 In season 1976/77, Derek Frye scored a club record 27 league goals but it wasn’t quite enough to help Stranraer win promotion from Division Two. They finished in fourth place, behind Stirling Albion, Alloa and Dunfermline.

10 Current Stranraer boss Stephen Aitken was named SPFL League 1 Manager of the Month for three months in a row last season. He won the award in October, November and December and Stranraer went on to finish third in the table before losing to Dunfermline in the play-offs.