Martin Maclean says Brora Rangers haven’t given up on retaining the Breedon Highland League title – but admits they can’t afford to drop any more points.
The Cattachs – who are fourth in the table, six points behind leaders Fraserburgh, having played a game more – face Fort William at Dudgeon Park on Wednesday.
Midfielder Maclean said: “After the Brechin game (2-0 defeat), we were written off.
“With the way the fixtures are dotted all over the place and teams having cancellations, it can make the table seem a bit false.
“But we know ourselves in the bigger games this season we haven’t been good enough and we’ve dropped too many points.
“If we’ve got any hope of trying to win the league, we need to win pretty much every game, which won’t be easy.
“But football is a funny game and you never know what can happen. We can’t look too far ahead and just have to try to win every game.”
Although Fort William are bottom of the Highland League, they picked up their first point under manager Shadab Iftikhar on Saturday against Huntly.
Maclean, 30, isn’t taking them lightly, and added: “No one really knows what to expect against Fort William.
“If you look at their results, they have improved in recent weeks. If we turn up like we did on Saturday and play to our potential then we’d fancy ourselves.
“They’ve had a high turnover of players and it’s hard for us to gauge what they will be like.”
Draw has boosted Fort’s belief
Fort William boss Iftikhar believes their 1-1 draw at Christie Park at the weekend will increase the confidence of his recently-assembled squad as they look to cut the seven-point gap to Turriff United in 17th.
However, he knows his charges face a difficult task to take something against Brora.
Iftikhar said: “I think the result will help the team a lot in terms of belief.
“But if you look back at the three performances each week, we have got stronger and that’s credit to the players.
“We’ve just got to keep going and keep working hard to keep that going.
“Brora are a very strong team, we expect a very difficult game and we’ll have to be at our best to try to get something.
“It’s clear how good a side they are and their manager is very clever in how he sets his team up, so it will be very difficult for us.”