Andrew Greig feels he still has plenty to offer as he tries to force his way back into the Formartine United team.
The Pitmedden side face Keith tonight at Kynoch Park in the Breedon Highland League with the winger hoping to make his first start since October 13.
Greig got married on October 30 and missed Formartine’s victory over Deveronvale the following week, but has been on the bench for their last three fixtures.
The 28-year-old said: “It’s been a bit frustrating at times for myself, I missed a couple of weeks when I got married.
“I’ve been back for the last two games so I’m trying to work hard and force my way back into the team.
“A week or two weeks is a long time in football when you’re not there.
“The manager might see a new shape and when you’re not there you’re not part of that.
“But I’ll keep working hard and trying to play my part.
“I still think I’ve got plenty to offer.
“I feel as fit as I ever have to be honest so I’ll keep working hard and try to force my way in.”
Building on point at Rothes
After defeats to Brechin City and Buckie Thistle, United drew with Rothes at the weekend and Greig hopes they can build on that against the Maroons.
He added: “It was an encouraging performance and we were probably unlucky not to come away with all three points.
“We’ve had some disappointing results recently so hopefully we can build on that.
“It’s been hard to put our finger on why we’ve had some disappointing results.
“We’ve got belief in the squad we’ve got and hopefully we can put a good run together and keep being positive going forward.”
Maroons aiming to end poor run
Meanwhile, Keith are on a run of five straight defeats in all competitions.
Manager Craig Ewen insists they need to sharpen up in both boxes to end their poor run.
On Saturday the Maroons were defeated 7-1 by Brora Rangers.
Ewen said: “The table doesn’t lie, we’re not scoring enough and we’re conceding too many.
“We have to try to improve in both boxes. We’ll keep working hard, I feel we’ve been training well but we haven’t had the results to show for it.
“At the moment we’re very much a work in progress.
“We’ve got to set about bridging the gap to the teams above us.
“We’ve taken in a couple of players and they have been doing quite well.
“Hopefully some of the guys who have been here a bit longer can raise their performance levels a little bit and we can compete in these games against the top seven.
“On Saturday there were positives to take despite the score.
“In the first half we were excellent and went in 2-1 behind when on the balance of play I felt we could have been level.
“In the second half Brora found another gear which we couldn’t cope with, although it was disappointing to lose goals because of individual errors.
“We need to try to produce a 90-minute performance and if we could we wouldn’t be far away.”