Stirling vs Hibernian Predictions

Scottish giants Hibernian are the best of the bunch in this competition, as they get their new season under way. Only four sides in Scotland were able to finish above Hibs last season, each of them are currently in the middle of a European tie. Meanwhile, Hibs are getting their Scottish League Cup campaign started with their first game of the group on Saturday. They are certainly the pick of the bunch in this draw, but can Stirling Albion raise their game and pull off a famous win this weekend?

The hosts view this clash as a chance to return to form, as they’ve lost three of their last four League Cup matches. They also ended up sat in mid-table in League Two last season, so they’re seemingly outmatched here. They are going up against the top side in the competition right now, so it’s no surprise that Hibs have been made heavy favourites for the points in this game. After losing to nil in their first two preseason games, the hosts come into this clash in poor form.

Hibs will be bemoaning their inability to secure a place in the Europa League this term. Since returning to the Premiership they’ve been expecting European football, but this season Hibs are left mixing it with the likes of Stirling, Alloa and Elgin. It’s far from the most difficult group for the visitors, who are hoping to warm up for an improved Premiership campaign off the back of their results here. Can they warm up in style as they kick off their new campaign against fourth-tier opponents?

Stirling come into this clash without a win in six matches, so they have little chance of pulling off a shock here. They lost 42% of their clashes with fourth-tier opponents, so this clash is likely to be a step too far for the hosts. After all, they’ve had some heavy League Cup losses of late, including defeats to Dunfermline and Dundee last season. Can Hibs add to that?

The visitors have won five of their last seven matches in this competition, while six of those seven have finished with over 2.5 goals scored. They have taken this competition seriously whenever they’ve entered over recent years, so Hibs should pull off a victory here. Hibs have scored seven times across two preseason games, while they’ve scored three or more in five of their last seven in this competition. That has us backing Hibs to score at least three goals in this game.