Saturday’s win against Cove must have dunted a few expectations and blown a few hopes of taking something home from the bookies into the bargain but what it showed above all else is just how competitive SHFL football is.
Although Brora and Turriff look to have a pretty tight grip on the top two places at present, there’s still a long way to go before the season ends in April.
I think it would be a very long shot for Formartine to have a chance of the championship this year – if they win all remaining games they could get to a grand total of 82 points and that would still leave Brora and Turra on 91 and 88 points, three short of the maximum possible because we have still to play them
More likely I think will be our capacity to rain on other people’s parades. We have drawn at Brora this season and it is not beyond our abilities to beat them if we play as we did against Cove (who did beat them recently in the cup).
Games against Turra are virtually derbies and anything can and usually does happen in these. With the pace getting notched up to two games a week, a big squad or at least a good run without injuries and suspensions will be needed to keep on clocking up the points.
I think that despite their obvious resources Brora will find the travel quite onerous and may falter somewhere along the road.
In terms of distance Tura have it a touch easier but no side will relish the pace in the finishing straight. How Turra must be ruing the three points dropped for fielding an ineligible player early in the season.
How we rue the points dropped at Rothes and Lossie. Had we been able to get to 86 points we’d be in with a bit of a shout.