Peterhead’s Max Barry would like to prove a point against his former club Aberdeen as the Blue Toon look to spoil Jimmy Thelin’s debut as Dons manager.
The Reds travel to Balmoor tomorrow night (7pm kick-off) to tackle Peterhead in what is their only public friendly before the Premier Sports Cup group stage starts on Saturday.
In contrast, the Blue Toon have already had three friendly outings, drawing with Formartine United and Banks o’ Dee, before beating Fraserburgh last weekend.
Midfielder Barry came through the Aberdeen youth ranks, but was released in the summer of 2020.
After four years with Buckie Thistle in the Breedon Highland League, the 22-year-old joined Peterhead this summer and is eager to show what he can do against his old club.
Barry said: “There’s always an element of wanting to prove yourself when you come up against a team you used to play for.
“It would maybe be different for me playing Buckie to Aberdeen because I left Buckie in different circumstances to Aberdeen.
“But there’s definitely an element of wanting to perform well and show what I can do and even show what they have missed out on to a certain extent.
“It’s a different challenge compared with the other games we’ve had.
“You don’t know quite how it will go because when I was at Buckie we played Aberdeen in a pre-season friendly two years ago and only lost 2-1 to a last minute penalty.
“So maybe we can get a result, which I would love to do, but we’ll see what happens.”
Stage set for Blue Toon to impress
A big crowd is expected at Balmoor tomorrow with the Red Army keen to get a first look at Aberdeen under Thelin.
But Barry is hoping Peterhead can impress their supporters, as well as the visiting fans, with a positive display.
Jordon Brown and Ryan Strachan’s charges are gearing up for their first competitive game of the season which is at home to Championship Queen’s Park in the League Cup group stage on Saturday.
Barry added: “From what I hear there will be a big crowd and it will be a good exercise for us.
“I’m looking forward to it, it will be a good experience for us.
“Hopefully we can show what we can do.
“I know a lot of people will be watching to see what Aberdeen are like – but we want to show what we’re capable of as a team.
“It’s Aberdeen’s first pre-season game and they’ll still be working on things with the new manager.
“They’ll be getting used to how they want to play and they’ve got a few new signings to bed in as well.
“That’s similar to ourselves this summer, but we’ve already played three pre-season games, so we’re maybe a bit further on in terms of understanding how we want to play.
“If we can play well it will set us up nicely for the Premier Sports Cup starting on Saturday.”
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