Gordonians captain Tom Williams hopes to put a dent in Highland’s National 3 title challenge tomorrow when they visit Countesswells.
Highland, who are fourth in the division, are 11 points behind leaders Glasgow Academicals but have two games in hand as they chase a promotion to National 2.
However, Williams is confident his side can cause the title contenders problems. He said: “We’re looking forward to this one. Games against Highland are always good ones.
“They are special as I have played against them since I was 12 and I’ve got some fond memories and some others which perhaps I’d rather not remember.
“They’ve got a chance of going up this year and might still win the league, too, so we know we are facing a tough game but we’re going into it with confidence and if we play well hopefully we can knock their challenge.”
Gordonians have a target of their own as they chase a top-half finish in their first season in National 3 after winning promotion from the Caledonian Division 1 North last season.
Williams said: “It was good to get a win against Perthshire last week in difficult conditions and results elsewhere went our way with Ardrossan losing at Dalziel. That has brought us closer to them and hopefully we can catch them and creep into the top six in the last four games.”
Highland co-captain Stuart MacDonald knows his side cannot afford to take Gordonians lightly as they look to continue their push for promotion. The two sides enjoyed some fierce tussles coming through the Caledonia League, with Highland making it to National 3 a year before tomorrow’s opponents.
MacDonald said: “They’ve been with us through the years and we’ve probably had our equal share of results. You recognise some of the same faces every time you play, so they’ve got good experience and boys that have played together for a long time.
“We’re not going to show up and expect to get the bonus point. We’ve got seven games to go and it’ll be a difficult run.”
Highland’s first team have been idle since February 10 and their League Cup loss to St Boswells, with the weather and Six Nations clearing their schedule. They have, however, been able to watch the Raptors – their second team – record three wins on the bounce, including a 34-21 success against Caledonia 2 North leaders Ellon last week.
MacDonald added: “They’ve had a few great results and are in the running to finish top.”