Banks o’ Dee’s Jack Henderson is looking forward to the opportunity to test himself in the Breedon Highland League.
The Aberdeen side have been promoted after Fort William withdrew from the pyramid play-off.
Striker Henderson has spent his entire career in the Junior ranks but is relishing the chance to play in the Highland League.
The 27-year-old said: “I haven’t played in the Highland League before and I’m really looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was younger and now I’ve got the opportunity I’m ready to give it a good go and hopefully I can make a name for myself in the Highland League.
“I haven’t had that many opportunities to step up to the Highland League before.
“And the other thing is that I’ve always enjoyed my time with Banks o’ Dee so it would have been very hard to leave.
“With the guys I’ve played with and managers and coaches I’ve played under it’s been really enjoyable so that’s why I’ve stayed.”
Incase you missed it last night, todays game vs @FortWilliamFC has been cancelled.
Thank you for your incredible support shown, as we looked to welcome a big crowd to Spain Park.
A statement from the club will be released in due course. pic.twitter.com/rVgGJm2ofQ
— Banks O' Dee FC (@banksodeejfc) April 23, 2022
Henderson admits Dee would rather have secured promotion by winning the play-off over two legs instead of going up because of Fort William’s withdrawal.
He added: “It was strange the way we ended up getting promoted and it was the last thing I expected to be reading given the circumstances and the importance of the game to both clubs.
“But there’s nothing we can do about that and now the club has taken a step forward and hopefully we can keep progressing.”
Dee will be competitive
Henderson believes Highland League sides won’t be looking forward to facing Dee next season.
The Spain Park side are the current Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup and Morrison Motors (Turriff) Aberdeenshire Shield holders and have also done well in the Scottish Cup.
Henderson said: “I don’t think people will be looking forward to playing us and hopefully we might be able to challenge some of the usual competitors at the top and take some points against them.
“The cup record we’ve got shows what we’re capable of, but we know cups games are slightly different.
“You can get up for one off games but in the league you have to turn up every week and be consistent over the whole season.”