Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North Region Junior football: Heathryfold set for first top-flight fixture in more than a decade as Sunnybank host Maud

A full McBookie.com leagues card is scheduled for Saturday.

Sunnybank celebrate winning the North Region Junior Championship title, with captain Andy Mutch holding the trophy aloft. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson.
Sunnybank celebrate winning the North Region Junior Championship title, with captain Andy Mutch holding the trophy aloft. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson.

There’s a full McBookie.com league programme on Saturday, with last season’s Premier League champions Culter opening the defence of their title against promoted Buchanhaven Hearts at Crombie Park.

Elsewhere, Premier League football returns to Heathryfold after more than a decade’s absence when Championship winners Sunnybank host Maud, and co-manager Paul Leahy is expecting a sizeable crowd to mark the occasion.

He said: “Definitely. Even pre-season we’ve seen an increase in the supporters at the ground, which is fantastic.

“It’s a club with so much history and it’s great to see children, families and folk who used to come along but haven’t been for a long time.

“Getting a win at Stoneywood Parkvale in our opener in midweek has helped, too, although we made it hard for ourselves.

“We missed a penalty when we were one up, they then scored a pen and eventually we won 3-2, which shows the resilience and the winning mentality that allows us to keep going.

“I’ve said to the boys we want to finish top six. Our aim last season was the title, which we achieved, so why not aim high?

“Squad-wise we’ve lost one or two, including Mikey Taylor to Keith, but we’ve got Ciaran Bloomer back on loan from Culter for the rest of the year, Dylan Cumming back on loan from Keith, Nduoma Chilaka from Aberdeen University, 16-year-old striker Arran Paterson on loan from Formartine United, and a couple of really promising youngsters in Jamie Evans and Callum Parker, so we’re in good shape.

“Any time I’ve been up against Maud, they’re always a decent side, and I won’t be expecting anything different.

“But we’re at home and I won’t be accepting anything less than three points.”

Maud boss Ryan Christie is aware it will be a tough opener for his young squad, and said: “It’s great for them getting back up.

“They were very strong last season and they’ve started this term well, so we’ll be in for a game, that’s for sure.

“We won well against Colony Park in midweek, we should have been a few more ahead and they came back, but we saw the game out pretty comfortably.

“Our aim this time round is to build on last season and hopefully climb up the table.

“We finished 10th last season, but there’s the extra teams this season.

“The squad is much the same as last time. We’ve a few loan signings from Highland League clubs, including some who were here last season, and we’re trying to build a squad that is mainly from the area as there’s a lot of clubs in this neck of the woods and getting players is never easy.”

The other North Region Junior matches this weekend:

Dyce, who won their opening league clash at home to Ellon United, welcome an in-form Rothie Rovers to Ian Mair Park for what should be an entertaining 90 minutes, while, at Aberdeen Sports Village, Bridge of Don Thistle – who won all of their Grill League Cup group games – face Fraserburgh United.

Stonehaven get their league season off and running with the visit of Nairn St. Ninian to Glenury Park, while Stoneywood Parkvale will be looking to bounce back from Tuesday’s defeat when they travel to Charlie Gordon Park to meet promoted Newmachar United.

At The Meadows, Ellon United entertain East End, while Colony Park make the journey to Lochside Park to play Hermes.

The Championship game of the day could be at Spain Park where Banks o’ Dee are up against League Cup quarter-finalists Islavale, while Hall Russell United make a welcome return to league action with the visit of Forres Thistle.

In the other games, Burghead Thistle are at home to Whitehills, who were also absent last season, while New Elgin go to Deveronside, Dufftown and Banchory St. Ternan – both relegated from the Premier League – meet at Westburn Park, and Glentanar go to Longside.

All matches kick-off at 2pm.

The quarter-finals of the Grill League Cup will be on Saturday, August 26, with the draw as follows: Stonehaven v Burghead Thistle, Culter v Longside, Rothie Rovers v Bridge of Don Thistle and Dyce v Islavale.

Conversation