Title-winning Invergordon boss Gary Campbell insists the club is aiming to get their ground ready for a longer-term shot at competing in the tier six pyramid play-offs.
A nerve-shredding 1-0 home win against Orkney on Saturday, thanks to a Jordan Laidlaw spot-kick, ensured they could not be caught in the race by Loch Ness or even Halkirk United had they lost.
A 3-1 home loss against Halkirk the week before cost them that chance to secure the North Caledonian League championship, but they got the job done at the second attempt.
The Recreation Grounds club want to compete in the play-offs for a chance to join the Highland League. But they’re not ready yet.
This new opening has just come into play this year, with McBookie.com Superleague champions Bank o’Dee and the Midlands League winners in the hunt to fight Highland League toilers Fort William in a play-off showdown.
Congratulations to @InvergordonFC who were crowned @MacandMac28 North Caledonian League Champions today after their 1-0 win over Orkney. pic.twitter.com/58xVXfu45V
— North Caledonian FA (@NorthCaleyFA) April 2, 2022
Club keen to improve facilities
Invergordon don’t meet the entry criteria yet, but Campbell insists they’re seeking to address that for the coming years.
He said: “The only disappointment (after winning the league) was not being organised enough to have the criteria in place to compete in the play-offs.
“In terms of facilities, you have to have a stand which holds a minimum of 100 people, floodlights to a certain standard and the ground all enclosed.
“There’s a fair bit of work to go yet on that and a fair bit of money, but it’s something we’ve looked into.
“It all takes time to get planning permission, put a stand up, and get all the other facilities in place, so it’s hard to say how long that might take us.
“There is a lot of money required to get it to the standard needed. It’s certainly been talked about here at Invergordon for future years. For now, we’re just delighted to win the league again.
“It has been a really competitive league and the tier system only helps that. There is an end game now for clubs to aim for.”
Loyal players earned title success
Covid cutting play short in the past few years denied front-runners Invergordon the chance of glory, with Golspie taking the honours last year as the divisions were split in two due to pandemic travel restrictions.
But this was a deserved triumph for Invergordon, especially against main challengers Loch Ness, who stuck in all the way.
Campbell was proud of his players for digging deep and winning their high-pressure showdown to get over the line to be confirmed as the champions again.
He said: “It is difficult when you know you need to win and only winning 1-0 was always going to be nervy, especially in the last 10 minutes when we didn’t get the second goal.
“The title could possibly still have been ours if other results went our way, but we knew a win would confirm it. The players worked so hard all year and we got what we deserved.
Updated league table. @InvergordonFC are champions for 2021/22 #NCFA pic.twitter.com/IHCwlpI5sN
— North Caledonian FA (@NorthCaleyFA) April 2, 2022
“It’s nice to win it again, having not been awarded it when we were in front in recent years. A group of boys have been here for a good few years and shown great loyalty, so it’s great to be league winners again.
“It has been a really tight league, with no easy games. Luckily, we were the most consistent and got there in the end.”