Matthew Wright hopes to keep making his mark in the Breedon Highland after his first senior hat-trick for Brora Rangers.
The on-loan Ross County striker is set to face Strathspey Thistle after notching a treble in the Cattachs’ 4-1 win against Wick Academy on Wednesday.
Those goals took Wright’s total for the season to 11.
The 18-year-old said: “It’s my first senior hat-trick. It has been excellent at Brora so far and I have had excellent support from Ross County.
“I just have to try and keep it going game-by-game, keep scoring goals and working hard for the team.
“It was brilliant to get the 4-1 win against Wick.
“The second half on Saturday (North of Scotland Cup final loss to Rothes) was a poor performance, but it was a huge three points for us against Wick.
“We will now move on to the next one and hopefully we can keep it going against Strathspey.”
Praise for striker
Brora manager Craig Campbell praised Wright’s contribution, and said: “Matthew has been an absolute joy to have around.
“He has a great work-rate and makes good runs and he’s tidy on the ball, but he’s a goalscorer.
“I’m delighted for him and he deserves all the credit he’s getting at the moment.”
On facing Strathspey, Campbell added: “It will be another difficult game, but at home we can hopefully go and put on another decent performance.”
Jags have to show belief
Strathspey Thistle travel to Dudgeon Park buoyed by defeating Fort William 7-3 in midweek to end a run of six straight losses.
Manager Charlie Brown believes the Grantown Jags can cause Brora problems.
He said: “We’ve been on a difficult run. The boys knew it was a must-win and it didn’t matter who we were playing against, the run had to stop.
“We were back to full strength and we got two boys in from Rothes on loan (Kane Davies and Ewan Neil) and that brought a bit of encouragement to the other boys already here.
“While it’s another difficult game for us, the boys were confident enough at the start of the season.
“We shouldn’t be fearing anybody, because we can play football. I have the boys here that can compete against the bigger teams in this league.
“It is just about getting them to believe that they can do it against those bigger teams.
“If we get the chances, we have to take them. If we also don’t give away any chances at the back then we can come away with a positive result.”
Fort need to respond
Elsewhere, interim Fort William manager Calum Maclean is demanding a reaction from his players after their thrashing by Strathspey.
Fort face Clachnacuddin at Grant Street Park, and Maclean said: “We had some words at full-time because they need to give themselves a shake.
“That’s not good enough and we’ll get nowhere playing like that.
“We won’t be looking forward to that one (the Clach game) if we play the way we did at Strathspey.
“But I can assure you they won’t play like that. I expect a big reaction from them.”
Lilywhites positive despite loss
Clach may have been beaten in midweek by Formartine United, but manager Jordan MacDonald remains upbeat about how the Lilywhites have performed.
He added: “We played some brilliant stuff again on Wednesday night, but switched off in the second half. We need to get rid of that because that’s cost us.
“People say it’s a young team, but I’m not going to use that as an excuse. That’s an easy way out. It’s just something we’ll learn as we go on.
“These young lads have been absolutely magnificent. We’ve shown how we want to play and we’re not going to change.”
Elsewhere, Nairn County – buoyed by only their second league win of the season at Huntly on Wednesday – host a Wick Academy side looking to bounce back after defeat against Brora.
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