Jonny Smith is keen to fire Formartine United up the Breedon Highland League table after returning from injury.
The striker was back in action for the first time in more than a month, coming on as a substitute in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Forres Mechanics.
Having netted 16 goals in all competitions this season, Smith has been disappointed to spend time on the sidelines.
Formartine are unbeaten in 10 league matches, but they remain seventh in the table – and Smith is keen to improve their position.
He said: “I tore my quad a month ago in training. It’s frustrating but it’s part of football.
“I just get on with it, I’ve had my fair share of setbacks over the last few years.
“But I always come back fitter and stronger and that’s what I’m keen to do now and have a good second half of the season.
“Our league form has maybe gone under the radar a bit and the poor cup results maybe tainted it a bit.
“But we’ve experienced the other side of it when we had a poor run in the league earlier in the season and we won cup games. It’s swings and roundabouts.
“Looking at where we are in the table, it’s not very good for us with the talent we’ve got in the squad and the ambitions the management and the club have.
“We need to kick on and push up the table.”
Squad depth boost for United
Smith believes Formartine are well-positioned to put pressure on the top six in the Highland League now that most of Paul Lawson’s squad is available again.
In the victory over Forres, Smith, Daniel Park and Andrew Greig were used as subs and Smith believes that shows the quality within the dressing room at North Lodge Park.
The former Keith, Cove Rangers and Inverurie Locos man added: “We had a tough start to the season with injuries and Covid like everyone had.
“But there were times when we only had 11 or 12 fit players. Other teams went through that as well, but it seemed to happen for us when we had a really tough run of games.
“Now we’ve got our squad back and you could see there was talent on the bench on Saturday and all three subs that came on contributed.
“Andrew Greig did really well I thought, he was very direct, and Daniel Park was the same.
“Having those kind of players back available – it makes a real difference.”