In-form Stranraer face League 1 leaders Morton at Stair Park on Saturday and keeper David Mitchell is hoping for a better afternoon than the last time he came up against the Greenock men.
The shot-stopper was ordered off after only 18 minutes and then had to watch from the sidelines as the Cappielow side ran out 4-0 winners back in August.
Mitchell said: “I am looking for a lot better luck this time! In the last game I did not get very long. It was a last-man challenge and, while I did not make much contact, I knew as soon as I did it that I was off. We got a bit of a going over and lost Barry Russell to a red card as well.
“It was just one of those things that can happen when you are a goalkeeper. I watched the rest of the game from the tunnel and it was not a nice experience. We had been settling well into the game and then it was the triple whammy of a penalty, a sending off and a goal behind.”
Stranraer have more than bounced back since that second game of the season and now sit in fourth place, just three points behind Jim Duffy’s side. The only time they have been beaten in the last 14 games was on penalties to Livingston in their Petrofac Training Cup semi-final.
Mitchell added: “We are on a decent run of form and have coped with the disappointment of losing out on a final place to Livingston. To get so close and not get through was really disappointing but we have moved on from it well.
“There is a determination at our club and we showed that in the Scottish Cup last weekend. We were two goals down to Dunfermline and looked set to go out but we came back. It might have surprised some but not me. With the boys we have in our squad you always expect something to happen.”
Mitchell was asked if Stranraer were heading for back-to-back play-off campaigns and said: “Last season our aim was to stay up and we did that. We over-achieved by getting to the play-offs and we know that doing as well as we can this season is matching that.
“This is my sixth season here and there is a good core of players that have stayed together. Grant Gallagher, Chris Aitken and Sean Winter have been team-mates for a long time and, of course, Craig Malcolm has come back after a season at Ayr.
“We are a close group and that shows in the team spirit. Hopefully that team spirit will be enough to see off Morton. I am looking forward to the game and staying on the pitch for the 90 minutes!”
Craig Stewart
