Colin Charlesworth says his aim is to make Huntly a strong team in cup competitions in the coming years.
The Black and Golds take on Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup holders Fraserburgh in the first round of the competition at Christie Park this evening.
Charlesworth, who succeeded Allan Hale at Huntly last month, would love to bring cup success to the club.
He said: “You always want to be successful. This game is maybe the first step for me to show how we want Huntly to play going forward.
“Competing for a cup is a good starting point.
“We want to make Huntly a good cup team in the years to come.
“There is no reason why we can’t go all the way in this competition.
“Cup games are one-off games and the league form goes out the window.
“It is a free hit.
“We have a good squad and we played well against Buckie recently. We are prepared and looking to cause an upset.”
Next up: We're on midweek duty as we visit @huntlyfc for our Aberdeenshire Cup tie @ee_sport @ADFA1887 pic.twitter.com/KXY1QjTmrf
— Fraserburgh FC (@FraserburghFC) January 22, 2024
Charlesworth believes Fraserburgh, who have won the Aberdeenshire Cup three of the past four seasons, are a good example of what can be achieved.
He said: “Over the past 10 years, Fraserburgh have been one of the most successful teams within the Highland League in the cup competitions.
“They have also won the league during that period.
“We are aware of what is in front of us but we have home advantage on back of a good performance against Buckie Thistle.
“We are confident and looking forward to the match.”
A six-game winning run came to an end for the Broch when they were held to a 2-2 draw by Clachnacuddin on their last outing.
Fraserburgh already have a Highland League Cup final against Brora Rangers to look forward to on March 30.
They defeated Formartine on penalties in last season’s final and Broch attacker Scott Barbour would love to set up the chance of more success in the Aberdeenshire Cup.
Ahead of the tie against Huntly, he said: “After winning the competition, you don’t want to then go and lose in the first round the following season.
“You want to win silverware every season and we have been quite good at doing that in recent years.
“The Highland League Cup is the main one but we also want to do well in the Aberdeenshire Cup and the Aberdeenshire Shield when they come around.
“It is all about trying to get more medals in the trophy cabinet so hopefully we can get the result we are looking for at Huntly.
“The Clach game was frustrating but we were on a good run before that.”
The winner of the tie will face either Hermes or Turriff at home in the second round of the competition.
Watson relishing Turra test
Hermes boss Steve Watson hopes home advantage can help his side as they look to cause an upset against Turriff United.
The McBookie.com Premier League leaders have a perfect record on their own patch in the league so far this season and suffered a narrow 4-3 defeat at Lochside Park against Banks o’ Dee in the Aberdeenshire Shield earlier this season.
Watson said: “Turriff are a good team.
“They look to have kicked on again since the new manager (Warren Cummings) came in.
“They are a good Highland League team and we know we will need to be at the top of our game to win.
“Our home form this season has been almost immaculate so we are looking forward to a big test.
“We believe we are capable of winning.
“It is great for us to play these competitive games against Highland League opposition.
“The players look forward to testing themselves against players from a higher league.
“Hopefully we get a good crowd at Lochside Park.
“We played Banks o’ Dee at home in the Aberdeenshire Shield in October. We played really well and we were unfortunate to lose.
“Hopefully we can get the right result this time.”
Turra boss Warren Cumming expects a difficult encounter but sees no reason why his side can’t go all the way in the competition.
He said: “It will be tough as they are a good side.
“We know what to expect.
“We have spoken to the players about the opportunity to win some silverware in cup competitions.
“We want to go as far in the competition as we possibly can.
“First and foremost, we need to focus on a difficult game against Hermes.”
Turriff will be without on-loan Aberdeen defender Finlay Murray as the Dons intend to play him in the same competition. The Dons received a bye and will face Keith in the second round.
Locos not taking Dyce lightly
Inverurie Locos midfielder Calum Dingwall says there is no chance they will be underestimating the task at hand when they host Dyce at Harlaw Park (7.30pm kick-off).
Dyce sit sixth in the McBookie.com Premier League with nine wins, three draws and no defeats from their opening 12 fixtures.
Dingwall believes the cup tie is a good chance to bounce back following Saturday’s 3-0 reverse against Banks o’ Dee.
He said: “It’s a big game, we’ve been progressing in the last few weeks and performances have been good.
“Maybe not so much on Saturday so it’s good to have this game coming quickly.
“We want to progress up the league but in terms of trying to win something the cup is what we have.
“Hopefully we can progress, but we’ve played Dyce quite a few times in recent seasons and it’s never easy.
“We’ll need to stay focused and be at it if we want to progress.”
Dingwall added: “The score maybe made it look comfortable for Banks o’ Dee but I don’t think that was the case.
“The second goal was a mistake which kills us late in the game and the third one was poor from our point of view as well.
“We had chances and need to put the ball in the back of the net.
“Overall the performance was OK, but I think we’ve been better in other games and we didn’t deserve anything out of it against Banks o’ Dee.”
