McInally says former players have nothing to prove at Balmoor

Jim McInally says the former Peterhead players facing his side with Cove Rangers tomorrow have nothing to prove to him.

Five ex-Blue To o n players – Rory McAllister, Ryan Strachan, Jordon Brown, Scott Ross and Leighton McIntosh – will be back at Balmoor tomorrow in Cove colours for the first north- east derby of the season.

It’s often said players returning to their former stomping grounds go back with something to prove to their old club, but Buchan boss McInally insists they don’t have anything to prove to him after lengthy and successful spells with Peterhead.

McAllister joined Cove in January after eight and a half years at Balmoor, Strachan departed in 2017 after eight seasons, and Ross moved that same summer after a seven-year stint.

Jordon Brown left in 2018 after five years with Peterhead, while McIntosh’s two-year spell ended a year earlier.

McInally said: “They don’t need to prove a point to me – they were all good players for us – and they’ve moved on and done really well.

“I’ve always said Scott Ross was probably the best centre-half I had, but it got to the stage with discipline where Scott maybe had to move on and rethink his mindset a little bit.

“The new managers he’s worked under at

Cove have probably helped with that and Scott’s getting a bit older so he’s maybe wiser as well.

“Ryan Strachan is a very good footballer with great intelligence and a great football brain.

“I’ve spoken about Rory hundreds of times, he was just a great goalscorer and a talisman for us.

“Jordon maybe comes off the bench a lot but you know when he comes on he can always score a goal. Leighton has pace and power and did well for us, so we’re well aware of their qualities.

“I didn’t really want any of them to leave, but sometimes circumstances mean you think it’s the best thing for both parties. I’m glad they’ve done well as they had a lot of good times at Peterhead and they’ve carried it on at Cove.”

Mc In a l l y has been impressed with the Aberdeen side’s ascent from the Highland L eague to Scotland ’ s third tier.

McInally said: “Cove are just serial winners who are used to winning.

“We know we’ll need to play well to beat them, but if we do play well we know we can.”

Peterhead are without Simon Ferry and Ben Armour (both hamstring), Josh Mulligan ( ankle) and Gar y MacKenzie (concussion) while Gary Fr a s e r continues to self- isolate having been a close contac t of a positive Covid-19 test.

Jim McInally celebrating with striker Rory McAllister.