Greg Buchan believes Fraserburgh are back to their best ahead of facing Brora Rangers.
The Breedon Highland League champions meet the Cattachs at Dudgeon Park today having won their last three games scoring 13 goals and conceding zero.
Midfielder Buchan, 25, has been pleased with their recent run, and said: “Everyone that’s started or come off the bench has been right at it in the last couple of weeks.
“Hopefully we can take that form into this game, because we’ll need it against Brora.
“After winning the league, the club probably didn’t expect to have such a turnover of players this season.
“Gary Harris and Grant Campbell retiring in the summer was one thing, and then Paul Campbell and Aidan Combe have moved on during the season.
“I’ve come back, Connor Wood’s joined, Marc Lawrence and Josh Bolton have come on board, so there has been a bit of a change.
“There was one point where we had also been decimated by injuries, but we’ve got the likes of Ryan Cowie back now as well.
“It maybe has been a bit of a transitional season, because Fraserburgh aren’t really known for having big turnover of players.
“But we’ve still got the same nucleus that’s been there for a while.
“The new lads have fitted in well and we’ve performed well in the last few weeks, we’ve looked a lot more like ourselves again.”
Fraserburgh sit third in the table, two points ahead of Brora, who have three games in hand.
The Broch are 11 points behind leaders Brechin City and second-placed Buckie Thistle, but Buchan is keen to finish the league campaign strongly.
He added: “We know we’re a fair bit off the top two in the league at the moment, but there’s still plenty to play for.
“We’re trying to finish as high as we can in the league.
“You don’t know what can happen – we’ve got to take care of our own games.”
Cattachs trying to build momentum
Meanwhile, Brora’s Martin Maclean says they need to win games against the likes of Fraserburgh if they want to challenge for the title.
The Sutherland side are 13 points behind the top two, but have two games in hand on Brechin and four on Buckie.
Midfielder Maclean, 31, said: “I think it’s looking quite far ahead to say we can challenge. The ideal scenario is to have games played and points on the board.
“We’ve got games in hand on Buckie and Brechin so we need to win those, whereas they’ve got points on the board.
“It’s about trying to build momentum and get on a run and see where it goes.
“This season and last season against the sides around us we’ve played OK, but we’ve ended up drawing or losing.
“These games can make a big difference – this season we’ve lost at home to Brechin, lost away to Buckie, lost away to Formartine and drawn away to Fraserburgh.
“A draw at Fraserburgh is a decent result, but in the bigger games we need to be picking up three points I think.”
News from around Highland League
Elsewhere, Sam Morrison returns for Buckie’s clash with Keith – which is a 2pm kick-off at Victoria Park – but Shaun Wood and Kevin Fraser are still missing.
The Maroons are without Joey Wilson, Michael Ironside, Tom Andrews and Nick Gray, while Kieran Mooney is a doubt.
Inverurie Locos against Strathspey Thistle at Harlaw Park is also a 2pm-kick off.
Robert Ward, Logan Johnstone and Garry Wood are all out for home side, and Thomas McInnes is missing for the Jags.
Formartine United welcome Clachnacuddin to North Lodge Park with Kieran Lawrence missing, Julian Wade is a doubt, but Tyler Mykyta returns.
Gary Warren and Paul Brindle are out for the Lilywhites, but Ben Cormack is back.
Forres Mechanics are without Graham Fraser, Ryan MacLeman, Kane Davies, Andrew Skinner and Robert Donaldson for Banks o’ Dee’s visit to Mosset Park.
Kane Winton returns from suspension for Dee.
Gary Kerr misses Rothes’ meeting with Wick Academy at Mackessack Par,k with Aidan Wilson and Sean McCarthy doubts.
Joe Anderson, Jack Henry, Jack Halliday, Sean Campbell, Sean Munro, Mark Munro and David Allan are unavailable for the Scorries.
Lossiemouth are without Dean Stewart, Jared Kennedy and Adam MacLeod for their trip to Huntly.
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