STARTING OVER
Well….off we go and into another season in the Breedon Highland League and full of optimism for a better season than we produced last year. Realistically we’re not going to win the league – that’ll be up to the six or seven clubs whose finances mirror their ambitions of winning it – but we are hoping that the performances on the park week in and week out warrant a lot more points and we concede a lot less goals than we did last season – I think most Jags fans would be very happy with that which in turn will hopefully entice in more spectators at Seafield Park.
Manager Robert MacCormack, assistant manager Mike Rae and first team coach Robbie Flett have had a successful pre-season with the boys with four good wins and a narrow defeat.
We are better prepared for the rough and tumble of the League than we have been for a few seasons now, so hopefully our optimism will be rewarded with some good results in the next few weeks – even though as we stated last week we have six away games out of seven to start with – our first home game is on August 19 which is sandwiched between four away and then, three away games – admittedly two are cup games which we have been drawn away from home but financially it’s a costly start …..
THE TEAM
There are plenty of changes from last year and hopefully we will have a far more permanent squad as there were many ins and outs over the past year which didn’t help with consistency.
Goalkeeper James Kendall played a few games towards the end of last season and proved that he will be an asset at the back.
Local lad Liam Grant, who was out for most of last season with injury, has been involved in a couple of the pre-season games so we are hoping that this year he will be able to retain and maintain his fitness as he was missed last year. Owen Paterson returns and his recent performances at right back have been excellent – and has scored a couple of goals ! Another loca,l Cairn Giles has also extended his contract for another year. He impressed very much in defence last year, but, again, one or two injuries prevented him having a long run in the team. They join new signings Taylor Sutherland and Caelan Mutch in a much changed defence and one we at JagsWeb have high hopes for. Both Taylor and Caelan have looked very impressive pre-season and we assume that will continue into the Highland League.
It was good to see that both Joe Cuthbert and Alan Kerr had signed on for another year – Joe who has been with the Jags for a mighty long time always gives one hundred per cent and can play in either defence or midfield or up front so it’s great to have him back, as it is Alan, who finished last season with a nasty injury and as such has missed some of the pre-season build up, but will be back to continue his versatile roles either at the back or up front.
With the addition of some recognised defenders this hopefully allows captain James McShane to return to his rightful and best position – that is in mid-field along side Jack Gilliland, Jack Davison and local lad, Daniel Whitehorn. This year they are joined by Jack MacKay and ex-loan player, now fully signed Seamus McConaghy as well as Owen Loveland another on—loan player returning for a year so we at JagsWeb think that’s an excellent selection of players and we are excited to see how they will merge together in what we think is a strong and powerful mid-field. This quality also gives Manager Rob a lot of permutations and cover for injuries etc….
Ross Logan returns up front to bamboozle the opposition defenders and this year he is joined on the other wing by Iain Ross a player very similar to Ross in his playing skills so hopefully we will have double-bamboozle…..and up front will have Mike MacKenzie who joined at the end of last season and in the games he has played has shown that he can score goasl and create chances for his team-mates. James McLaren has also signed on a years contract and having played some games pre-season and scoring twice we hope that he will continue in that vein – Jude Fraser also joined us pre-season and in his first game scored a good forward’s goal before suffering a nasty injury so we look forward to getting him back to fitness to join what we hope will be a really successful forward line.
AWAY MATCH v FORRES MECHANICS FC
MOSSET PARK, FORRES, IV36 1AU
BREEDON HIGHLAND LEAGUE
SATURDAY 29 JULY 2023 – KO 3PM
We make the short 22 mile journey to Forres and off to Mosset Park we go…..
This has been the usual start to our league campaign over the past couple of years or so – it’s either a home or an away fixture against The Can-Cans.
First games are always different as both teams are full of expectation and the hope of a decent performance and result to set them up for what is a long campaign over the winter.
As already stated above there will be quite a difference in our starting line-up from last season, so fingers crossed we get off to a good result, but, more importantly the boys play well and give their all – other than that as supporters we can’t ask for more.
After Forres we’re off to Pitmedden and Formartine United next Saturday.
LOTTERY
The usual finish to the post is to invite you to play our fundraising on-line Lottery game – click here for more details – the jackpot this week stands at £1700 – and remember you have to be over-16 to play….thanks and good luck.