Cove Rangers can open up a four-point gap at the top of the Highland League, with games in hand on the chasing pack, with a win against fourth-placed Turriff United at Banks o’ Dee’s Spain Park tonight.
The Aberdeen side did not return to the Granite City until 3.30am on Tuesday after the 4-0 Scottish Cup second round victory at Fort William, but manager John Sheran believes his players will be ready for tonight’s game.
Sheran said: “It was a long day for everybody, but we had a training session on Wednesday night and everyone is fine so we will have a full squad now defender Stirling Smith is getting back to fitness.
“We’ve never had an easy game against Turriff and I don’t expect this one to be any different. Every game has been very close, so we need another huge performance.
“We played Turriff in the semi-finals of the Aberdeenshire Shield and the Highland League Cup at the end of last season and we have already played them in the Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup quarter-final this season, and they will also have had plenty of time to recover from their Tuesday night draw at Formartine United.”
United manager Ross Jack can take heart from Tuesday night’s spirited 0-0 draw at Formartine, but will not make his selection until just before kick-off due to a mounting injury list.
Jack said: “The very least we deserved at Formartine on Tuesday night was a draw as we had five shots on target and they didn’t have any, so we can take confidence from the performance.
“We got a great response from the players at Pitmedden after two indifferent displays in the two cup matches against Inverurie and Fraserburgh prior to that.
“We do have a significant injury list. I will just have to wait and see how they recover from Tuesday night’s game, although midfielder Andy MacAskill is available for selection having served his suspension.”