The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Orkney have more than a remote chance at home
Orkney forward Gary Nicolson hopes the long journey takes its toll on tomorrow’s National 3 visitors Carrick – as it did for his own side last weekend.
An understrength Orkney went down 17-12 at St Boswells after experiencing a disrupted journey to the Borders.
With the islanders returning to Pickaquoy, where they defeated Murrayfield Wanderers a fortnight ago, Nicolson is confident his side can make the most of home advantage against their Ayrshire opponents.
Nicolson said: “We had quite a depleted side when we went away on Friday night. We had 17 originally going but by the time we got the boat it was down to 15. The travel down was also not good,. The boat was horrendous.
“The boys pulled through but the travel can definitely take its toll on the games.
“Once the ferry is done we’ve got to sit on a bus for six hours before we play the game.
“We have a good team this weekend though, having had good numbers at training through the week.
“Pickaquoy is a difficult place for other teams to come, as it’s them having to make that journey.”
Nicolson remains optimistic about Orkney’s prospects for the campaign ahead of the visit of tomorrow’s fifth-placed opponents.
He added: “The season has not been too bad so far, although there have been some games where we maybe could have come away with a point or two more. The team is finding its stride a bit, although we will definitely be looking to win more games than last year to hopefully end up in the top half of the table. The table is quite wide open so far, although that is probably going to change after Christmas.
“Carrick are around the top half of the league but we are aiming to get four points from this game, if not five.”
Caithness go into tomorrow’s home match against Hillhead-Jordanhill in good form, with back-to-back victories over Carrick and Haddington.
Greens manager Tom McGee is eager to see that run continue. He said: “In the first couple of games up here, teams just got it a bit too easy against us. We just weren’t accurate enough really and made too many unforced errors.
“We managed to get five points on the road at Haddington last week, so we will look forward to Hillhead-Jordanhill this weekend.
We are looking to back up our first win at home against Carrick a fortnight ago. We want to continue that momentum.” will fancy their chances of progressing at the expense of Banff at Duff House, given their fine start to the season, including last week’s win over Garioch at Canal Park.
The clash of North Scotland Police and Ross Sutherland is likely to be an arresting encounter in Aberdeen. Garioch are at home to Moray.
In Caley 3 North, the eye-catcher is at King’s College where leaders Aberdeen University meet a 2nd Gordonians side full of players keen to make their case for selection to the first team, who are currently top of National League 3.
In Caley 4 North, Fraserbugh will be pushed to contain Inverness Craig Dunain, while Peterhead entertain 2nd Aberdeen Wanderers at Catto Park.
In one of the basement battles, Deeside are at home to Dyce.