He stops short of calling the next week season-defining – but Graeme Stewart knows Buckie Thistle are facing a vital run of games, starting with tonight’s clash against Brora Rangers.
The Cattachs welcome the Jags to Dudgeon Park with both sides looking to move a little bit closer to the top of the Breedon Highland League.
Buckie are in fifth place, 15 points behind leaders Brechin City, with five games in hand. Brora are 19 points off the summit, but have six games in hand.
After this evening’s encounter, Thistle take on Brechin at Glebe Park on Saturday, before facing Fraserburgh next Wednesday.
Manager Stewart said: “It feels like a big week – but they’re all big weeks at this stage of the season.
“We’ve got three huge games, but I don’t think it’s season-defining, because – regardless of the results – the games after these three will be huge as well.
“If we can get three positive results then it could be a very good week and a very encouraging week.
“You’re not winning and losing anything this week. But if you win the three games, you’d feel you’ve got much more of a chance than if you get three poor results, which would mean it would look very unlikely.
“But we’re totally focused on this game and we’ll be giving everything to try to win it.
“If we could win against Brora, it should breed a lot of confidence going forward.”
Brora player-manager Ally MacDonald is also well aware of the importance of the fixture for his side.
He added: “With the gap between ourselves and Brechin, it does feel like you need to win every game.
“They’re so far ahead – but we’ve got six games in hand.
“I wouldn’t say it’s win or bust because we’ve got Buckie to play again, Brechin have got to play Buckie twice and we’ve got to play Brechin.
“It’s still there for us, but we know how important it could be to win this game.
“I know what we’ve got in our squad and what we’re capable of doing. What’s important for us is that we need to be better against the top sides.
“We’ve let ourselves down in that regard in the last couple of seasons.
“We want to win leagues and to do that we need to be beating the top teams.”
Rothes boss has ideas about strengthening
Richard Hastings has targets in mind that could strengthen Rothes – but is also upbeat about what the players at his disposal can do.
The Speysiders face Banks o’ Dee at Spain Park in the Breedon Highland League tonight.
Manager Hastings took charge of Rothes for the first time in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Buckie Thistle.
Despite the defeat he took positives from the encounter, but is also keen to dip into the transfer market.
He said: “I think you’ve always got ideas about who you might want to bring in. I think every team will already be looking at players for next season.
“It gives the changing room a lift when players come in and everyone has to raise their game.
“We’ve got some targets and we’ll see what we can do in the market.
“But the boys have made a good impression. I’ve been pleased with the work-rate and work ethic which is the first thing I was looking for.
“I’m optimistic about what I’ve seen so far and we’ll try to keep building.”
Dee have won their last five league games and are second in the table, four points behind leaders Brechin City having played a game more.
But at this stage co-manager Paul Lawson isn’t getting caught up in title talk.
He added: “We’ve got ourselves in the mix at the top end, but there are a lot of games to be played.
“Some teams have more games to play than ourselves and whether that’s a good or bad things remains to be seen.
“We have to keep winning our games and putting pressure on the teams around us.
“We’ll see where we are once everyone has played a similar number of games.”
News from around the Highland League
Elsewhere in the Highland League, Lossiemouth face Inverurie Locos at Grant Park. The Coasters are missing Ross Elliott, Baylee Campbell, Ryan Stuart, Fraser Forbes, Ross Paterson and Jared Kennedy.
The Railwaymen welcome back Mark Souter, but captain Greg Mitchell is still missing and Calum Dingwall is also absent.
Nairn County return to action when Huntly visit Station Park. Andrew MacLeod and Aaron Nicolson are back in contention for the Wee County, but Kenny McKenzie is a doubt.
Alex Thoirs, Cameron Heslop, Lewis Crosbie and Isaac Evans are injured for the Black and Golds.
Keith tackle Turriff United at Kynoch Park, but the Maroons do so without Liam Duncan and Joey Wilson. Ethan Smith is set to return, but Kieran Yeats remains a doubt. For Turra, Max Foster is suspended.
Bottom-of-the-table Strathspey Thistle welcome 14th-placed Wick Academy to Seafield Park. The Grantown Jags will be without Steven Martin and Daniel Whitehorn, but Iain Ross returns.
Meanwhile, Matthew Robertson could make his Scorries debut, but Sean Campbell, Owen Rendall, Alan Hughes, Brandon Sinclair and James Mackay are out.
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