Paul Brindle says a solid defence is key to allowing Brora Rangers’ attackers to express themselves.
The Cattachs’ forward players were in great form as they started their defence of the Highland League title with a 5-0 victory against Deveronvale at Princess Royal Park on Saturday.
Brora’s front four of Brindle, Jordan MacRae, Andrew Macrae and Greg Morrison caused Vale plenty of problems in the first period and that continued after the break with Gregor MacDonald replacing Morrison, who injured a hamstring.
Brindle – who bagged a brace for Brora at Banff – said: “It’s good when you’ve got such a strong defence and midfield because it gives us a license to go and play.
“We can all inter-link and try to express ourselves because we know we’ve got that security behind us.
“I think it showed on Saturday because some of the football we played at times was really good.
“We feel quite confident that we can always cause problems in any game.
“We showed that in the Betfred Cup against opposition from a higher leagues and we showed again on Saturday we are a very strong team.”
Brindle was thrilled Brora started the shortened 2020-21 campaign the way they did against Deveronvale.
He knows if the Dudgeon Park outfit want to retain their title they can’t afford many mistakes in a 15-game season.
Brindle added: “We were just delighted with the result, in the first game of the season you just want to get off to a good start.
“I thought we were strong for the whole game and thoroughly deserved to win.
“I was delighted to get two goals. Ultimately it was just about the team getting off to a good start, but it’s always nice to get a couple of goals and boost the confidence going forward.
“It’s the first weekend of the season, but we’re reigning champions and we want to go on and win the league again and Saturday was a good start for us.
“With a shortened season you can’t really afford many slip-ups.
“There is the potential that it maybe makes the season a bit more than open, but we don’t plan to slip up hopefully and we’ve made a good start.”