FIREWORKS

HOME MATCH v BANKS O’DEE FC
BREEDON HIGHLAND LEAGUE
SEAFIELD PARK, GRANTOWN PH26 3HY
SATURDAY 5 NOVEMBER 2022 – KO 3PM

OK… it’s a cliché but there could be fireworks on Saturday afternoon when the Breedon Highland League debutants Banks O’Dee FC visit Grantown for the first time. They make the journey from Aberdeen on the back of a 2-0 defeat at Rothes on Wednesday night, so, hopefully, this could mean they don’t travel particularly well on the A95/A96.
It’ll be a pleasure welcoming the team, officials and fans of Banks O’Dee to Seafield Park and our Club historian Rob Clark, aided and abetted by Club secretary Clive Wolstenholme have put together a souvenir programme to commemorate their first visit.
The programme will be available to purchase for £1 at the ground or £2 online by Paypal
stfcprogramme@gmail.com

After having a very decent start to their first season, Banks O’Dee were hit by a severe blow after playing an unregistered player in their recent Scottish Cup match against Turriff United, and as well as being removed from the Cup, they were also deducted 24 points by the Highland League which placed them below us on -1 points. 
So its a bottom of the table clash – the ubiquitous six-pointer.

For additional information for Banks O’Dee supporters click here


Aiden, with last week’s home MOTM award and also scorer of our first goal in Inverness on Wednesday night against Clachnacuddin.

FIRST VICTORY OF THE SEASON

Aiden Cruickshank and Liam Grant both scored first half goals in our match against Clachnacuddin FC at Grant Street, Inverness on Wednesday night in a right dreich night for football – real Highland League weather – but it was sunshine all the way home to Grantown with all three points. There were goalmouth scrambles at both ends of the pitch, and in the second half our ‘keeper Olly Kelly pulled off a magnificent double save which kept the clean sheet intact.  According to our match reporter all the boys played really well throughout – and deserved the win. Defensive mistakes have been very, very costly for us so far this season, but that’s now 135 minutes of football of not conceding a goal – so hopefully we can keep that statistic going for as long as we can. 
Every Jags player played their part and and as you can imagine Charlie and the boys emerged from the dressing rooms with a big smile on their faces after our first victory of the season. 

Unfortunately, Aiden, who has now scored five goals for the Jags, was sent off after being booked twice,  so he will miss the Banks O’Dee game.

Local hero, Liam Grant scorer of our second goal against Clach

DATES AND TIMES FOR YOUR DIARY SO FAR:

There will be changes to match day kick off times over the next few months so please make sure to check before.

So far ours are as follows:
Home match v Formartine FC on Saturday November 19 will have a 2pm kick off.
Away match v Brechin City FC on Saturday January 28 – 2023  will have a 2pm kick off.
Away match v Inverurie Loco Works FC  on Saturday February 11- 2023 will have a 2pm kick off.

Club Secretary Clive is in contact with all the teams we are playing both home and away in the near future to ascertain if a 2pm kick off would be suitable for both teams.

There has been a change of fixtures date with many clubs moving their fixtures from Tuesday 27 Dec afternoon to Friday 23 Dec evening and from 3 Jan 2023 afternoon to Friday 30 Dec evening – we play Rothes FC on both dates so discussions are ongoing – JagsWeb will keep you informed. 


And as ever Jags Fans we finish with …………till next week.

CLUB LOTTERY

This week’s jackpot in the Club’s Lottery is £1800 so if you want to play click here and help the Club – thank you very much!

CLIVE’S NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2022

5thA visit from Brora Rangers is always a tough challenge but nothing could prepare you for the scale of defeat this evening. 11-0 was the score which represented the club’s worst home defeat in the Breedon Highland Football League. Just to compound the misery of defeat our worst away show was a loss by a similar score line at Dudgeon Park, Brora, back in 2014.

Pitchfixers

8thWhile still trying to get our heads around the scale of Wednesday’s defeat (although our ever-willing volunteers, shown above, were working on the Seafield Park pitch the morning after) it was a visit to Kynoch Park, Keith that was next on the agenda. A goal down in four minutes was not the best of starts and Keith ran out 6-1 winners. Kieran Mooney led the way for the Maroons with their first hat trick in three years. Aiden Cruickshank, making his first start for The Jags, scored our consolation goal.

15thAgain another disappointing start to this important game against Turriff United when we conceded an early goal, this time on seven minutes from the penalty spot, which left the team with a mountain to climb. It became 2-0 before Owen Loveland seized on a defensive mistake to put The Jags back into the game. Liam Taylor nearly put us back on level terms but his shot just went just wide. It was 3-1 at half time. 

The second period was a struggle for the home side and Turriiff United ran out worthy winners 6-1 with a brace from their new signing, Max Foster who has recently returned from playing for Dubai City. Thoughts now turn to next Saturday’s visit to Station Park Nairn for yet another six-pointer.

21stTeam Manager Charlie Brown announced that striker Ben Cullen was in the squad for tomorrow’s trip to Nairn. Ben has recovered from the nasty facial injury sustained during the drawn game with Deveronvale on August 6.

22ndBen duly started the game and although it was an improved team performance, defensive lapses were again our undoing. 2-0 down at half-time and 4 down on 63 minutes this time heads didn’t go down. Two goals in a minute from Aiden Cruikshank, one a penalty, gave the Jags renewed hope. We hit the post and then had a decent hand ball shout turned down and finished the game very much on the front foot. If only we can cut out the mistakes!!

23rdThe draw was made for the third round of the Scottish Cup and congratulations to the three remaining SHFL teams who are through. Formartine play Stenhousemuir, Falkirk travel to Wick and Fraserburgh host Arbroath. The ties to be played over the weekend of November 26. We wish them well.

28thThe Scottish Highland Football League announced the Banks O’Dee had been deducted 24 points and fined £500.00. for fielding an unregistered player. This is their first season in the SHFL and they were going well in the top six . They are now bottom on minus one.

29thSeafield Park hosted Lossiemouth FC in the preliminary round of the Highland League Cup sponsored by GPH Builders Merchants. Again the Jags were two down in next to no time, so it was another mountain to climb. Aiden Cruickshank pulled a goal back direct from a corner and for a period we played well and were close to equalising but again poor defending gave Lossie a third goal before half-time. The second forty-five was one of the team’s better halves this season and with Ben Cullen making it 2-3 on seventy-five minutes hopes were raised that we could force the game into penalties although it was not to be and Lossie hung on for the win that takes them to the next round and a tie with Nairn County. For only the third time this season the Jags didn’t concede a goal in 45 minutes of football. The other two halves were against Huntly and Wick.

UPCOMING FIXTURES.   November 2 @ Lossiemouth.  November 6 home Banks o Dee.  November 19 home to Formartine.  November 26 @ Deveronvale.

Check out the Breedon Highland League website and also strathspeythistlefc@highlandleague.com for details of how to join our weekly online lottery. /

BLACK AND WHITE

AWAY MATCH v CLACHNACUDDIN FC
BREEDON HIGHLAND LEAGUE
GRANT STREET PARK, INVERNESS, IV3 6DR
WEDNESDAY 2 NOVEMBER 2022 – KO 8pm

Wednesday night should see us at Grant Street Park, Inverness for a Breedon League encounter with Clachnacuddin FC.  The Lilywhites have had a better start to their season than ourselves and sit in fourteenth spot on ten points, so again, The Jags will have a tough game on their hands if they want to leave Inverness with all three points – last year we played Clach four times winning once at Grant Street but losing the other three games, in what were four good games of football. There is a local derby look about the fixture as personnel in both teams have changed around since last year, but there will be some well kent faces on show – and a hard game is on the cards.


We exited the GPH Builder’s Merchants Highland League Cup on Saturday after a 3-2 defeat to Lossiemouth at Seafield Park last Saturday.  After being two down after ten minutes but in twenty-two minutes Jags’ Aidan Cruickshank was again on the score sheet direct from a corner – but Lossie scored again before half time. We then had a decent second half with Ben Cullen scoring in the seventy-fifth minute but we could not find an equaliser – some spectators thought we were worthy of a draw. 

So hopefully buoyed by our second half performance we can continue by getting a good result in Inverness on Wednesday. 

DIARY DATE
Remember remember the fifth of November and a home Breedon Highland League match and a historical first visit to Seafield Park by Banks O’Dee FC – there will be a commemorative programme on sale both at the match and online.


STRATHSPEY ROVERS NEW STRIP

Strathspey Rover’s new strip

The Rovers U-14s proudly showing off their new player kit – and they would like to thank HFBC for their sponsorship and ongoing support of Strathspey Rovers and development of youth football in the local area. 

AFTERGLOW

GPH BUILDER’S MERCHANTS HIGHLAND LEAGUE CUP
PRELIMINARY ROUND v LOSSIEMOUTH FC
SEAFIELD PARK, GRANTOWN – KO 3PM

Lossiemouth beach and promenade

This Saturday we welcome our friends at Lossiemouth FC  to Seafield Park for the preliminary round of the GPH Builder’s Merchants Highland League Cup.
Our league game against Inverness Clachnacuddin scheduled for that day will now be played mid-week under the Grant Street floodlights next Wednesday, kick off should be 8pm. 

We played Lossie in Lossiemouth on a Wednesday night back in August and altough we suffered a 4-2 defeat, with Owen Loveland and Liam Taylor scoring in what was a hard fought match with the home team finally securing the win with a last minute goal….so another performance like that would be very welcome but with a turnaround in score.
So, hopefully we’ll be sitting in the “Afterglow” (© Chvrches) on Saturday evening with a win and a first round tie at home on 12 November against Nairn County to look forward to.

Lossiemouth fans can find out more info about their visit to Grantown – click here.

Congratulations should go to Jags striker Aidan Cruickshank for his starring role in last weeks P&J televised mach – the meeting with Nairn County – please view the heroics on our facebook and twitter pages  – another three like that on Saturday would do just fine…. and, it was great to see Ben Cullen’s name back on the team sheet and recovered from an injury sustained in early August – hopefully he will continue from where he left off by scoring a goal in every game he played.


Sorry about all the confusion about future fixtures but so far they are: 

Away to Clachnacuddin on Wednesday 2 November, and on Saturday 5 November home to Banks O’Dee followed by perhaps another home fixture – this time against Nairn in the League Cup – obviously that’s if if we beat Lossie this Saturday – if not, I would imagine Saturday 12 November would be a free Saturday – then it’s the prospect of our third home match in a row with a game in the Breedon league against Deveronvale on the 26th – and this should complete our November fixtures.


JagsWeb was very surprised at the severity of punishment dished out by the Highland League to Banks O’Dee FC regarding their playing of a non-registered player in a Scottish Cup tie. By deducting 24 points it means they now sit below us in the league with -1 point.

As I keep saying, Jimmy Greaves was right when he called football “ a funny ol’game”.
Banks O’Dee visit Seafield Park for the first time, a week Saturday, on 5 November and our club historian Rob Clark and club secretary Clive Wolstenholme are compiling a souvenir programme which will be available at the match – and online too.


As ever we finish with a mention of the Club Lottery – the jackpot this week being £1700 – and to play online here


All the best to the guys on Saturday and see y’all next week….and with all these home games in November if anyone wants to help us with any pitch repairs – have fork, will travel – following a Saturday game it’s 10am approx on Tuesday see you there….

‘HAUD THE BUS – NAE CLACH

Sorry Jags fans but contrary to previous posts the fixture list for the next couple of weeks is as follows :

Saturday 29 October – Home match v Lossiemouth FC in the GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup Preliminary Round – KO 3pm

Wednesday 2 November – Breedon Highland League match away to Clachnacuddin FC at Grant St Park, Inverness – KO – 8pm.

Saturday 5 November – Breedon Highland League match at home to Banks O’Dee FC – KO 3pm.

AS A RESULT OF THE HIGHLAND LEAGUE’S INITIATIVE OF ALLOWING EARLIER KICK OFF TIMES ON A SATURDAY DURING THE WINTER MONTHS TO SAVE ON ELECTRICITY – PLEASE CHECK ON KICK OFF TIMES NEARER THE DATE.

INTO THE MYSTIC

AWAY MATCH v NAIRN COUNTY FC
BREEDON HIGHLAND LEAGUE
STATION PARK, NAIRN, IV12 5NQ
SATURDAY 22 OCTOBER 2022, KO 3PM

Nairn Beach at sunset.

“Smell the sea and feel the sky” croons Van Morrison: “let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic.”

This Saturday sees us on the road again – this time to see our friends at Station Park in Nairn to face a Nairn County team, who, as I write this sit one place above us in the League. The Wee County have had an unfortunate start to this years league with a compendium of setbacks, but as they have two points more than us and three games in hand, it’s a must win on Saturday for The Jags – so that we would leave the seaside with all three points and heading into the mystic.
Last week I stated that our captain James McShane would be back – unfortunately I got it wrong and he was still on shifts as a firefighter in Inverness…maybe this week…

Remember the Nairn game should have been played last month and as we are both not partaking, now, in the Scottish Cup, Saturday’s is a rearranged league game – and next week we are in Inverness for the SHFL League Cup Preliminary Round match against Clachnacuddin – so our next home game is the first Highland League visit of Banks O’Dee FC on Saturday November 5.


Owen Loveland Jags only scorer last week against Turriff.

Last Saturday’s game v Turriff United FC was another defeat for the boys with Owen Lovelands scoring our only goal on thirty-one minutes – just before scoring he suffered what looked like sore injury and unfortunately had to leave the field shortly after the goal – hopefully the injury is not too serious. 
Thanks must go to some of our home support for creating a loud atmosphere during the game.

Now a message from Jags Head of Football Development, Brian Ritchie.

“Hello everyone… 

Having established the “Strathspey Thistle Community Football Team” for players from the local Welfare League and beyond who want to continue their summer football over the winter months, we would now like to investigate the possibility of putting in place a team for the 16-18/19 year olds within the local area who require a pathway from youth to adult football. 

The ideal scenario is that our local youngsters progress through Strathspey Rovers or any other local established club catering for school age children, then on reaching 16 years old we have a system in place for them to continue their development into adult football should they wish to do so…. This idea is going to take a wee bit of thought, discussion and planning but at this stage I would like to invite any interested parents, volunteers or coaches to a formal sit down, round the table blether, and see if there is scope to progress further. 

Please feel free to contact me by call or text on 07711330969 if this is something which you would like to be involved in

… many thanks, Brian Ritchie, Strathspey Thistle In The Community”

Thanks must go to Brian in organising STITC .

This is exceptionally beneficial as already there have been a few players from the welfare league playing for the Jags this season, and two are now under contract until next summer and playing very well.

You can keep up to date with the team on their FaceBook page here and with
Strathspey Rovers here




Speaking of Strathspey Rovers – short notice I know but what a fun way to spend Saturday night if you’re in Grantown…..


The usual finish…..£1600 is up for grabs in this weeks Club Lottery drawn on Sunday – play online here

See you next week JagsFans…..

TURRA FIRMA

HOME MATCH v TURRIFF UNITED FC
BREEDON HIGHLAND LEAGUE
SEAFIELD PARK, GRANTOWN
SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER 2022 – KO 3PM

The Turra Coo…….perhaps…

When Saturday comes we welcome the players, management and supporters of Turriff United FC to Seafield Park. 

News this week of their re-instatement into the Scottish Cup, following a player registration mistake by Banks O’Dee, hopefully has put them in a good mood and perhaps a generous one too – maybe they might leave the three points here this Saturday!! !!

They visit Falkirk next week and a match with Dunipace FC…which is just along the road from our first round opponents Camelon Juniors FC.  We wish TUFC all the best.

But before all that, the prospect of another hard fought match here in Grantown on terra firma is on the cards and one we would love to compete in and get some points on the board – Turriff sit in eleventh place so again it’s not going to be easy….but as everyone in football says you never know until the final whistle…..

Captain James McShane will be back after work comittments and Alan Kerr could be fit again for selection.

For Turriff United supporters wanting information for Saturday click here


We have had a pretty dismal October with another savage defeat last week at Keith,  Aiden Cruickshank being our lone scorer and we must hope for a swift upturn in our fortunes


As ever the Club Lottery will have it’s weekly draw on Sunday and if you want to play online click here – this week’s jackpot is £1500 and as ever keep up to date with whats happening Jags wise on our FaceBook and Twitter feeds…➡️ ➡️

See you next week …….as we’re off to Nairn for the rearranged Breedon Highland League match on Saturday 22 October at Station Park, Nairn.

As a footnote please keep a check on kick-off times over the winter period as clubs have been given licence to move away from the standard 3pm start with a view to saving revenue by reducing floodlight usage.

FOOL TO CRY

AWAY GAME v KEITH FC
BREEDON HIGHLAND MATCH
KYNOCH PARK, KEITH, AB55 5EB
SATURDAY 8 OCTOBER – KO 3PM

I doubt very much if any of the Rolling Stones will be in attendance when we travel to play Keith this Saturday ;-), but after Wednesday night and our home league match against an excellent Brora Rangers team you would be a fool not to cry!!

That said we have to remain focussed on getting as many points as we can from now on beginning with our visit to Keith this Saturday. We last managed to get the full three points at Kynoch Park in March 2018 and as Keith currently sit in fourteenth place with ten points it’s going to be a difficult task to match that result but we’ll go there with a positive attitude. Lets hope for a good game and a repeat of our visit four years ago!!


FORK IT!

So what do you do on a fine Thursday morning after your team has been comprehensively beaten the night before….you have to carry on, grab your fork and head to the ground to repair the physical damage from the night before. Pictured are r. to l. – superfan Alan McKenzie, Graeme Stuart and Ian B Anderson….and in the second photo a sample of what we have to fix!!!!


LOTTERY 

As is usual we promote the Club Lottery before the weekend as the jackpot this week is £1400 – so if you want to play online please click here and good luck.

STRAIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE

HOME MATCH v BRORA RANGERS FC
BREEDON HIGHLAND LEAGUE
SEAFIELD PARK, GRANTOWN PH26 3HY
WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2022 – KO 8PM 

Not a lot of people know this but the renowned golf course architect James Braid was involved with both Brora and Grantown’s 18-hole courses in the early 1920’s, but it’s their football team and supporters we welcome to Seafield Park on Wednesday.
Any information travelling Brora fans require please click here.
Currently lying in third place in the league, five points behind leaders Brechin City, they are in fine form. This was demonstrated last Saturday by beating Clachnacuddin FC in Inverness to win the North of Scotland Cup for the eighth time – our congratulations go to the players and management on that achievement.

We had a league match on Saturday and unfortunately were hit by two late goals to lose 2-0 at Huntly – so there was disappointment at the result.

I imagine it will be a very difficult evening but hopefully we can put in a good performance under the Seafield Park floodlights – but as we always say you never know in football….

Why not come along and support the boys – this is the first game this season under the floodlights and there’s a something about floodlit football which creates a unique atmosphere.


DIARY DATES 

Our next game on Saturday is away to Keith FC, and then followed by our next home game on Saturday 15 October against Turriff FC – KO 3pm

CLIVE’S NEWSLETTER-SEPTEMBER 2022

3rdToday a visit from the current league leaders Brechin City with the Jags including their new signing from Elgin City, 17-year-old forward Aiden Cruickshank, on the bench. A goal down in five minutes didn’t help Strathspey and it was an uphill battle from there. Half time was 2-0 to Brechin and in the end they ran out worthy winners 5-0. Team boss Charlie Brown had no complaints after the game.

8th  After a long wait for International clearance the club can announce that 20 year old midfielder Connor Austin has joined the club until the end of the season. He arrives from FC Linkoping City, Sweden.

9thTomorrow’s visit to play Nairn County has been postponed by the SHFL due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Next Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie at Seafield Park is also in doubt as we await further instructions from the Scottish Government.

13thThe Scottish Government announced that all games on September could go ahead for what is usually an exciting day of cup football.

17thBefore the game we signed goalkeeping cover in the form of James Duncan from Tomatin United. We welcomed Camelon Juniors to Seafield Park, their first visit to Grantown for what turned out to an eventful afternoon. The Jags started well and created three good scoring chances in the opening fifteen minutes before conceding a soft penalty on 31 minutes for The Mariners to go in at half-time a goal to the good. Two goals in seven minutes knocked the wind out of Strathspey midway through the second half and in a disappointing end further goals were conceded on 90 and 92 minutes. A poor finish to a day that had dawned with such high hopes. Camelon were worthy winners and have been rewarded for their success with a trip to Borough Briggs, Elgin to take on the City in round 2. All the best to them.

24thHistory was made today at Seafield Park when the Jags secured their first ever point from Inverurie Locos. In an end to end game we came from a goal down at half-time to equalise through Jack Davison, with a  superb left-foot drive, and then took the lead with a tap in from Liam Taylor 73 minutes. Hoping for our first win of the season wasn’t to be when the Locos equalised on 85 minutes. A much better performance all round and a credit to everyone. We have to build on today.

26thOur game with Nairn County, postponed on September 9th, has been re-arranged for Saturday October 22, kick off at 15:00.

27thSome good news for the club was the return to training of striker Ben Cullen after his nasty facial injury. Welcome back.

30th  As the club prepare for the visit to Christie Park, Huntly tomorrow I have decided to wait until that game is played and will then send out the newsletter. It is a busy week with Brora Rangers visiting on Wednesday and then we are on the road again for a Saturday visit to Keith.

October 1 An important game in the context of the season but a disappointing afternoon visit to Aberdeenshire was the 2-0 defeat by Huntly. The Jags didn’t create anything clearcut until the final minute when they hit the bar straight after a decent shout for a penalty, but were well in the game until a bizarre decision by referee Lee Robertson over a back pass gave the initiative to the home side. The free kick was cleared for a corner which resulted in their opening goal. It was a good headed goal. Not long after it was two when a shot from the edge of the penalty area through a crowd of players resulted in an own goal. It was a quiet journey home.