Reaching the National 1 top four remains a realistic goal for Aberdeen Grammar head coach Ali O’Connor.
Grammar sit six points behind Gala, who occupy fourth spot, and making up ground is still achievable for the Rubislaw men.
They can close the gap tomorrow at home to Stewart’s-Melville, with Gala engaged in a Borders derby with Kelso.
Since their last win away at Falkirk at the start of December, Grammar have lost against Kelso and Edinburgh Accies but have also been hit by three postponements, disturbing their momentum.
Last Saturday’s game against GHA was postponed due to snow but O’Connor expects tomorrow’s match at Rubislaw to go ahead, giving them a chance to claw back some points.
O’Connor said: “Our target is to match what we did in the first half of the season and step on again.We slipped up against Kelso and we’ll suffer with player availability for a few fixtures. Fourth place is the goal we set and it’s still achievable. Unfortunately, we’ve got boys who have weddings and stag dos coming up, plus we have the Six Nations where we’ll lose players who will travel to games.”
O’Connor will be without Greig Ryan for tomorrow’s game as he has a calf problem but Nathan Clough and Robin Cessford should be available. Fly half Sam Knudson is out, however, as he has returned offshore.
O’Connor added: “It’s been a frustrating season for Sam with work commitments.”
Grammar had their first outdoor training night of the year this week after poor weather had confined them to indoor sessions. It has allowed O’Connor to sharpen up certain aspects of their game.
He said: “Stewart’s-Melville have a number of dangerous players and are looking to move up the table. We want to play a bit more exciting brand of rugby, going away from the various tactics we’ve used so far. Tuesday night showed just what we’ve been missing not having the outdoor sessions.
“We’ve been able to hit each other and ramp up the intensity from playing indoors.”