Loyalty to Turriff United prompted Keir Smith to sign a new deal with the club.
Smith, a former Caley Thistle trainee, extended his stay at The Haughs until the summer of 2022, with James Chalmers also penning a similar deal.
He thanked the club for helping him through a troublesome hip injury last season and hopes he can be part of an ever-improving young side going forward.
Smith said: “The way Turriff are moving forward, it’s good to be part of it. They were good to me last season, getting me through my medical and hospital appointments. I’ve lived in Turriff my whole life and only live three minutes from the park.
“We’ve got an even younger team this year and it’s been hard. This past month we’ve picked up a few points and the team have got a good way of playing together. We’ve got Cammy Bowden and James Chalmers, who are experienced boys, but there’s a lot of younger boys in the squad.”
Smith is in his second full season with Turriff, after also having loan spells with Rothes and Keith while he was at Caley Thistle. The 20-year-old feels he has acclimatised well to the rigours of the Highland League after stepping out of youth football.
He added: “It’s a completely different style. Youth football was more technical, whereas this is more realistic.”
The midfielder misses tomorrow’s game against Buckie Thistle through injury but has backed Kris Hunter’s side to give a good account of themselves.
Smith said: “They’ve always been a good side but we can’t go in and be scared of them. The Highland League is a good stage and by all accounts, it’s a well-watched league. There’s so many ways you can move up the leagues and on to bigger things.
“We want to establish ourselves as a Highland League team. The aim is to always do better than last season and hopefully we can keep pushing forward.”