Edinburgh City v Stirling Albion — prediction, stats and goal analysis

League Two · Saturday, 12 September 2026. Final score 7–3 (half-time 5–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 63% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals63%37%Over
Over 3.5 goals40%60%no pick
Both teams to score62%38%Yes

The result model puts Edinburgh City at 40%, the draw at 23% and Stirling Albion at 37%, from expected goals of 1.81 and 1.75.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. League Two has produced over 2.5 goals in 57% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Edinburgh City have 4 in 6 this season (1 of 3 at home), Stirling Albion 4 in 6 (3 of 3 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 59% and 59%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 6 and 6 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 61% and 58%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 59%.

Head to head. These sides have met 8 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 75%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 60%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 69%, from expected goals of 1.81 for Edinburgh City and 1.75 for Stirling Albion. Folding in 30% of that view gives 63%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Edinburgh City667%50%50%
Stirling Albion667%50%33%

Head to head

28 Mar 26Stirling Albion 1–0 Edinburgh CityU2.5
10 Jan 26Edinburgh City 1–4 Stirling AlbionO2.5
1 Nov 25Stirling Albion 0–1 Edinburgh CityU2.5
2 Aug 25Edinburgh City 1–2 Stirling AlbionO2.5
29 Mar 25Stirling Albion 2–1 Edinburgh CityO2.5
1 Feb 25Edinburgh City 4–3 Stirling AlbionO2.5

More: Edinburgh City season stats · Stirling Albion season stats · League Two table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.