Tuesday 1st: Ross County sent a strong side to Seafield Park for a pre-season friendly against the Jags and showed their quality with a 5-0 victory. Northern Ireland international striker, and reported £1m transfer target, Ronan Hale scored three goals in the second-half in what was a great workout for STFC prior to the new Highland League season.
County take the lead at Seafield Park
Writing in the Press & Journal, Paul Chalk commented that: ‘there were several occasions when they asked questions of their higher ranked team and the Jags will be happy with their effort overall, given the opposition’s class.’
Friday 4th: We were drawn away to either Inverness Caledonian Thistle or Lossiemouth in the North of Scotland Cup.
Saturday 5th: Jags player/coach Aaron Doran enjoyed his testimonial match at Caley Thistle, where he made nearly 400 appearances, with the home side taking on Ross County in front of 2,000 fans, including a few STFC committee members. That man Hale was impressive again with both goals in a 2-0 victory for the Dingwall side.
Tuesday 8th: A pre-season friendly at home to Dufftown FC and a 1-0 victory for the Jags although a late second goal was disallowed as a hole in the net fooled the referee into thinking the ball had gone wide of the upright!
Saturday 12th: The weather was kind for our annual Golf Day and our thanks go to everyone involved in making it a great occasion. Full details on our website here.
Fellow Highland League sides Brora Rangers and Brechin City were involved against top-flight clubs in the Premier Sports Cup, Brora doing well to restrict Kilmarnock to a two-goal victory while Falkirk scored seven away to Brechin.
Wednesday 16th: Manager Ryan Esson was pleased to get the signing of Danny Gillan from Brora Rangers over the line, describing the 20-year-old goalkeeper as ‘a top professional and a great character, he’ll bring experience and consistency to our squad.’
Deals were also announced to bring in 18-year-old defenders Ali Morrison and Bailey Black.
Saturday 19th: In our final warm-up ahead of the new season, Forres Thistle were the visitors to Seafield Park and a 5-0 victory for the Jags set us up nicely for the big kick-off. Goals came from Shaun Morrison x 3, Lewis Mackie and Kieran Duffty.
Thursday 24th: Ross County youngsters Jamie Williamson, a midfielder and forward Calum Brown joined on season-long loans to continue the squad strengthening.
Campbell Money, County’s Football Development Director commented: ‘Strathspey Thistle are a progressive Highland League Club, and we feel this agreement aligns with our football development strategy.’
Saturday 26th: Time for the big kick-off of the 2025/26 Highland League season as we entertained Keith at Seafield Park and what a day it was for home supporters as the Jags signalled their intent to improve dramatically on last season’s position.
Two Shaun Morrison goals either side of half-time gave the hosts the advantage and any nerves that came about when the visitors halved the deficit with eight minutes remaining were more than eased by a fantastic goal from Josh Race that secured all three points.
Elsewhere in the league there were opening day wins for Clachnacuddin, Brora Rangers, Brechin City, Deveronvale and Buckie Thistle.
Wednesday 30th: A midweek trip to Rothes for the Jags in a meeting of last season’s bottom two.
The newsletter was compiled prior to this game due to holidays so we’re going to leave you on a cliffhanger for this one.
Please check our Facebook page for the details on whether we could make it two wins out of two and also the latest on the Jags lottery and whether the big jackpot prize of £12,000 has been won!
Player Sponsorship
Matchday Hospitality
Register your interest in matchday hospitality and sponsorship now and get ahead of the game.
Email hospitality@strathspeythistlefc.uk to express your interest.
Upcoming home matches in August include the games against Banks O’Dee on Saturday 9th, Deveronvale on Saturday 16th and Formartine United on Saturday 30th.