The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Net gain at last for Hutcheon
Keith: Defender delighted after scoring first goal in nearly 10 years
It’s taken him nearly a decade but Keith defender Stewart Hutcheon finally scored his first Maroons’ goal in Saturday’s important 3-2 win at Strathspey Thistle.
The 25-year-old Aberdeen-based joiner said: “It took me long enough as I made my Keith debut at Fort William almost 10 years ago, when I was only 16, and Darren Still was the manager.
“I then was with the youth team for a year or two until I was called up to the first team squad when I was 19, six seasons ago now.
“I’ve been at Kynoch Park
“It took me long enough as I made my Keith debut at Fort almost 10 years ago”
for nearly 10 years but I’m really enjoying playing under the management of my former team-mate, Dean Donaldson.
“I’ve known ‘Deano’ for years but since he came back to manage the club a couple of months ago he really seems to have changed the mentality of the players.”
Looking back on Saturday’s victory at Strathspey, Hutcheon added: “It really was an important victory as those three points saw us leapfrog both Strathspey Thistle and Lossiemouth into 15th place in the league table.
“I like to go forward and help out the attackers.
“I laid the ball off to Michael Selfridge who played it back to me.
“I just cut inside, went past a couple of players and l beat the Jags’ keeper from about 25 yards.
“As soon as the ball left my foot I knew it was on target and it flew into the back of the net off the inside of the post.”
While Hutcheon is off the mark at Keith, Nairn County striker Max Ewan has been rewarded for his form in his first season in the Highland League with a new contract. The 17-year-old, who joined his hometown club from Caley Thistle last summer, has agreed a two-year extension which will keep him at Station Park until the summer of 2020.
County manager Ronnie Sharp said: “Max has come on well this season and he has settled into the team really well.
“We probably held him back more than we would have liked during the first half of the season due to his age.
“We have had him in the starting line-up more often than not over the last few weeks and we are really seeing the benefits of that now.
“We could see right away when Max came in during the summer that Max had the skills needed to do well in the Highland League.
“It was a case of managing properly and ensuring that we did not throw him in at the deep end too early.
“He is a physically strong boy for his age though and he has proved that he can handle that side of the game in the Highland League.
“He is only going to get better and better over the next few years and we are delighted that he is going to be here with us.”
Ewan has scored six goals in 27 appearances for the club and scored on his first start for the first team in the 2-0 victory at Fort William last month.