The equation is simple for Stirling County if they want to maintain their National One promotion dreams — and County head coach Craig Jackson insists his side are hungry to get going.
After the traditional winter break, County were preparing for their first hit of 2025 at Bridgehuagh last weekend against Jed Forest, but that match fell foul of the sub zero temperatures which decimated much of the sporting calendar.
Instead it’s a trip to the capital to take on Boroughmuir for Stirling as they begin a run to the line where they will need to make up a nine-point gap at the summit of the league to leaders GHA.
It means that County will likely have to win all of their remaining matches with bonus points for a chance to pip the Glasgow outfit, but Jackson insists his troops will be ready with the mission in mind.
Jackson said: “It’s been a bit of a funny time with Christmas and the winter period and it’s been five or six weeks without a game now so the boys are chomping at the bit.
“We’ve trained really well over that winter break, but it has also given the boys a bit of a rest from the slog they had taken on from the start of the season through to December.
“Some of the boys were starting to feel that so hopefully they’ll be rejuvenated and it actually gives me a bit of a selection headache with lots of great players available.”
Boroughmuir – the other side sent into National One alongside Stirling after the restructure which saw the end of the Super Series – have had a difficult season so far, fighting it out at the bottom to retain their status.
But Jackson knows there will be no complacency from his side for the clash, which is followed by a match away at bottom side Dundee.
“We know what we need to do, win the rest of our games with five points so that begins with being rock solid in our defence and then building the platform to attack”, he added.
“Nothing changes on our identity and every week we just want to make sure we get better and control what we can as that will bring us success.
“Boroughmuir felt the impact of the restructure quite hard like ourselves but they are a quality club and have always been at the top end of Scottish club rugby as long as I’ve been involved.
“They’ve been one of the most improved sides in the league and they’ve been closing to beating both GHA and Accies so we’re under no illusions about the challenge we’ll face.
“One of the best things about this league is that every game matters to someone at either end of things; there aren’t any teams thinking they’ll be fine, everyone has something to play for, every game matters and every point matters.”