Cove Rangers attacker Daryl Nicol took his seasonal goals tally to 26 at the weekend as he continues to lead the Highland scoring charts.
Nicol struck with a spectacular late overhead kick to earn Cove a William Hill Scottish Cup replay against Formartine United at Inverurie’s Harlaw Park on Saturday.
Both sides have plenty of incentive to progress as the winners were yesterday drawn away to Premiership side Motherwell in the fourth-round draw at Hampden.
Nicol has been out injured with a hamstring strain for the past fortnight and was delighted to be back in the team.
He said: “It was brilliant to be back on the pitch, although I’m still not 100% fit.
“I was a bit rusty in the opening spell and towards the end I was feeling it on a heavy pitch. With another week’s full training I’ll be fitter for the replay.
“I thought we deserved at least a draw. Formartine shaded it in the first half but even before the late sending-off of their centre back, Johnny Crawford, we were dominating the second half.”
The goal gave Nicol great satisfaction. He said: “Only one in 10 overhead kicks like that tend to go in. It was a brilliant cross from Connor Scully and I hit it cleanly.
“I thought we were going to get the better of them, their goalkeeper made a fine late save from Scully and if we’d played on another five minutes we’d have taken them.
“It was a great game, both teams got the ball down and passed it. It must have been a great tie to watch.”