By Paul Thomson

Copyright dailyrecord

Albion Rovers legend Alan Reid bagged a bottle of Bollinger for breaking a club appearance record – but revealed he won’t be popping open the bubbly to mark his big moment. The defender was presented with a bottle of champagne and special award to officially recognise him for breaking an 89-year-old record for the most appearances by a Rovers player, with his 494th outing last month in a defeat to Broxburn surpassing the previous holder Murdy Walls, who had held the accolade since 1936. His presentation came off the back of a 1-0 win at home to Cowdenbeath on September 6 in the Lowland League. And Reid said: “It was nice to get the wee presentation and a bottle of champers as well. It was the good stuff, too, no expense spared! “But I think I’ll keep hold of it and put it alongside the shield in my house. I don’t think I will be drinking it. To be honest, I’m not much of a champagne drinker! “It was nice to get a win and the first clean sheet of the season as well. “We knew it was going to be a hard game against a good Cowdenbeath side. “They were pretty physical and there wasn’t too much in the game, but Barry Duncan popped up with a great free-kick to win it for us. “I am three games away from 500 now, so all being well, Linlithgow at home [on September 30] will be my 500th game.” The defender, 37, received his prizes from ‘biggest fan’ Mary Allan and said it was an emotional moment for her. He added: “Mary Allan has sponsored me along with her husband Andy, who passed away last year, since my very first game at Rovers. She sponsored me when I came back to the club as well and she was there with her daughter to present it to me, which was a nice touch. “We are actually quite close, we speak pretty much every Saturday and she is my biggest fan. I think she had a wee tear in her eye and it was nice for her to give me the award.” Reid’s side were idle at the weekend but return to action this Saturday when they travel to Stirling University, a team sitting four places below 10th-place Rovers. He added: “Sometimes you really don’t know what you are going to get with the Uni teams. “Players come and go every year obviously, but they are always a good side the have a really good manager [Chris Geddes].”I really like how they play and it will be a tough game. ”I feel like we’ve turned a wee corner recently. We’ve taken four points from six in the last two games, so that should give us the confidence to go there and get a decent result.”