He’s already matched last season’s goal tally and James Wallace is pleased to be repaying Brora Rangers’ faith in him.
The striker, who is preparing to face Wick Academy at Dudgeon Park tonight in the quarter-final of the North of Scotland Cup, has hit the ground running this term.
Wallace has found the net six times, the same as he managed last campaign, and it’s only September.
The 24-year-old signed for Brora three years ago but suffered a cruciate ligament injury at the start of the 2021-22 season and then sustained a recurrence in November 2022 before coming back last October.
Reflecting on his good start to the season, Wallace said: “It’s made a difference for me this season having a full pre-season.
“Last year I was working my way back to fitness after a long lay-off with injury.
“When I spoke to the manager Steven Mackay in the summer he mentioned getting my number of goals and assists up.
“It’s been a good start for me and hopefully it continues for the rest of the season.
“When I signed for Brora the aim was to get back to enjoying my football, but it was one thing after another with injuries.
“But hopefully I’m over my injury issues now and hopefully I can show people what I’m about.
“I have to give the people at Brora a lot of credit because I’m sure with a lot of players in the position I was in they might not have been offered a new deal.
“I owe them a lot and I’m trying to repay them now with my performances.”
Wick looking to end winless run
Meanwhile, Wick boss Gary Manson is hoping the Scorries can end a nine-year wait to get the better of the Cattachs.
Academy’s last success against this evening’s opponents was on penalties in the first round of the North of Scotland Cup in July 2015 on their way to winning the competition.
Wick’s last victory in 90 minutes against Brora was back in December 2012.
Manson added: “It is annoying and I can’t believe it’s been quite so long.
“Last season we were close, it was 0-0 at home and we had a golden opportunity in the last two minutes that we should have scored.
“Even in the away game we lost 1-0, but it was a fairly close game.
“But by the looks of things Brora have improved again this season so last season doesn’t really count for much.
“It will be a different game and a different challenge.
“We want to get the monkey off our back because it’s getting annoying.
“It has to change sooner or later and what better time to change it than in a cup quarter-final.”
The winner of the tie will be at home to Forres Mechanics or Lossiemouth in the semi-final.
Elsewhere, there is all North Caledonian League quarter-final clash at Ferry Brae Park, North Kessock where Inverness Athletic take on Halkirk United (7.45pm).
The winner will visit Nairn County or Clachnacuddin in the last four.
Nairn aim to repeat winning feeling
Callum Maclean wants winning trophies to become a habit for North of Scotland Cup holders Nairn County.
The Wee County continue their defence of the cup with tonight’s quarter-final tie against local rivals Clachnacuddin at Station Park.
Maclean, who is in his 10th season with Nairn, classes last term’s success as his career highlight after helping the club win silverware for the first time since 2012.
The 32-year-old defender said: “We want to try to retain the cup.
“It was a career highlight for me, we’d gone through a lot of tough years at Nairn where winning a trophy was something you dreamed of rather than a realistic possibility.
“There’s no reason why we can’t do it again. We want to try to keep that momentum going and make winning trophies a habit.”
Meanwhile, James Anderson believes Clach have shown they’re good enough to get their hands on silverware.
The Lilywhites are third in the Breedon Highland League with 16 points out of 24.
Striker Anderson has scored two goals on his return to action after missing almost all of last season with a torn meniscus. He believes the signs are bright for Conor Gethins’ side as they try to end a trophy-less spell stretching back to 2014.
The 23-year-old added: “The way we’ve recruited and started the season we’ve shown we’ve got a good enough team to compete.
“But we need to go out and prove that again in this game.
“The way the club wants to progress getting to finals is where we want to be and this an opportunity to get closer to that.
“On a personal level it’s good to be back contributing after my injury last season.”
Lossie look for lift in cup
Ian Campbell is hoping Lossiemouth can progress to the North of Scotland Cup semi-final to boost morale as well as their chances in the tournament.
The Coasters tackle Forres Mechanics at Mosset Park tonight in the last eight of the competition.
Campbell, Steven Dunn and Steve Porter remain in interim charge following the departure of Eddie Wolecki Black last week, while in the Breedon Highland League Lossie were beaten 3-0 by Strathspey Thistle on Saturday.
Campbell said: “We know it will be a tough game and we need to be at it, but we’re looking forward to it.
“Everyone was disappointed with Saturday’s result but we need to bounce back.
“We want to try to get the club into a semi-final again. In the last seven years we’ve lost in the final once and in the semi-final twice.
“We know it will be tough but we’ll try to rally and get a good result for the club.”
Forres have had a good start in the league, which includes beating Lossie 3-2 on August 24.
However, boss Steven MacDonald isn’t getting carried away and added: “We’ve shown some good signs so far this season. But there’s a lot of work still to do and we need to keep building on the good things we’ve done.
“There wasn’t much between the teams the last time and it should be another good game.
“We want to try to get the club back into the latter stages of cup competitions.
“It’s not easy because everyone’s thinking the same, but it would be great to get back to that stage.”
Hastings wants to be silenced by Rothes players
Rothes boss Richard Hastings wants his players to keep him quiet – because it will show they’re improving.
The Speysiders are in Breedon Highland League action tonight when Fraserburgh visit Mackessack Park.
Rothes have had a mixed start to the season with wins against Forres Mechanics and Nairn County, but some heavy losses elsewhere.
With the likes of Greg Morrison, Allen Mackenzie, Gregor MacDonald and Ben Johnstone unavailable Hastings is working with a player pool possessing limited Highland League experience.
But he does see positive signs and said: “I’ve said to the boys that my job is to make them do the things I need them to do.
“I said to them ‘if some of you feel like I’m constantly shouting at you then if you want me to shut up start doing what I’m asking you to do.’
“Some players hear me shouting a lot less now because they’re starting to pick up what I want them to do.
“We’re seeing the shoots of that happening and players learning and progressing.
“There are definitely positive signs, it’s about finding that consistency of performance.
“We’ve got quality in the changing room, we’re a mercurial team where we can do some good things but also have some off days.”
Broch out to sharpen up
Meanwhile, assistant manager James Duthie has challenged Fraserburgh to find their ruthless streak in front of goal.
The Broch have taken 10 points from seven league games, but have only scored six goals in those fixtures.
Duthie said: “We’ve had some really good performances and some really poor performances.
“What’s puzzling us is that we’ve got the second best defensive record in the league (five goals conceded) and we’re sitting 11th.
“Historically we’ve scored a lot of goals, but that hasn’t been the case so far this season.
“The quality in terms of our final pass, cross or finish or our decision-making in the final third hasn’t been at the level of years gone by and it’s something we just have to keep working on.”
Fraserburgh could hand some of their youngsters an opportunity this evening with some of their first-team regulars unavailable.
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