Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Huntly are ‘on the up’ and want to finish season strongly, says goalkeeper Fraser Hobday ahead of Rothes clash

Rothes' Aidan Wilson has also had his say ahead of Saturday's Highland League clash at Mackessack Park

Huntly FC goalkeeper Fraser Hobday. Image: Scott Baxter.
Huntly FC goalkeeper Fraser Hobday. Image: Scott Baxter.

Huntly goalkeeper Fraser Hobday says his team are targeting the three sides directly above them in the Breedon Highland League before the season ends, with a win over Rothes their first priority.

The Black and Golds travel to Mackessack Park today, with five points currently separating ninth (Huntly, 35 points) and seventh (Rothes, 40 points) position. Nairn County are eighth with 36 points, while Inverurie Locos have 41 points and sit sixth.

All four teams have played 29 games to this point.

Their league standing is something Huntly are desperate to improve on in the final weeks of the season, with Hobday saying they are determined to finish the campaign on a positive note.

He said: “We’re going into the Rothes game full of confidence. We had a rough start to the season, but we’re definitely a team on the up.

“If somebody had said to us then that we’d be playing for that sixth, seventh or eighth spot by the end of the season, we definitely would’ve taken that.

“We know Rothes had a poor result midweek, so they’ll be looking for a response – but we’re not far behind them, so they should be looking over their shoulder at us.

“A win would take us right back up into that group, which is what we’re aiming for.

“I’ve had seasons before in this league where near the end you’re just playing to finish the season, but we feel like we’ve really got something to play for. We want to end the season strongly and bring that into next season.”

Huntly manager Allan Hale. Image: Paul Glendell/DC Thomson

Hobday feels manager Allan Hale and his assistant Stefan Laird have instilled a strong mindset in their squad, adding: “Our draw with Locos (1-1) last weekend just wasn’t good enough for us – we’ve got to be hungry every week and demand more from ourselves.

“We’re showing the fighting spirit to get to where we want to be in the league. We just need to keep that momentum going for the rest of the season and keep looking up.”

Wilson: Rothes look to put right ‘disappointing’ midweek showing

On Wednesday, Rothes suffered a 3-1 defeat at Turriff United – a frustrating outcome after they had earned a hard-fought point at leaders Buckie Thistle (1-1) last weekend.

Their top scorer Aidan Wilson – who netted the Speysiders’ goals in both matches and is now on 18 strikes for the campaign, which is the highest tally outside the top-five – said: “It was very disappointing.

“Not to take away from Turriff, who played some great football, but we just didn’t turn up.

“Given the performance we put in for the Buckie game, to go into midweek and be nowhere near the standards from Saturday (it’s frustrating). We didn’t full-on press them from the start and they came into the game.

“(Against Huntly) we just need to get the ball down from the start and play. We need to go in with the attitude it’s not a given and it’s going to be a tough one for us.

“Sometimes with our style we can be solid at times defending and we’re so good at catching teams on the counter-attack. It’s a big part of our play, and I think it can be a factor when we come up against teams where we have more possession.

“There are times where we play teams in the lower half, have more of the ball, and we do play football and score goals, but I think midweek was just one of those games where we didn’t perform the way we should have.”

Rothes’ Aidan Wilson celebrates scoring the opening goal v Buckie. Image: Jasperimage

On his campaign personally, the 22-year-old said: “It’s definitely been my best season so far. I’ve had a bit more consistency and being in the team more regularly has helped out.

“I’ve been looking after myself a bit better as well – more gym work and just keeping myself fit. I’ve avoided any niggles as well and had a pretty injury-free season, which has all kind of helped.”

Conversation