The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Cup catalyst to a step up
● Carson says a trophy run can help Highland in promotion bid
Highland head coach Davie Carson reckons tomorrow’s National League Cup quarter-final against Preston Lodge in Inverness can also help the club’s National 2 promotion bid.
It will be just their third match since the turn of the year when they host the East Lothian outfit.
Having lost their previous two matches against Biggar and Dumfries Saints, Highland need to recover and Carson sees this weekend’s cup tie as an ideal opportunity for his second-placed side to regain sharpness – with eight league matches remaining in their efforts to gain promotion to National 1.
Carson said: “With the way things have gone since Christmas, this is a game we are needing before we get back into the league campaign.
“We have had two games in January and the start of February so far and we come into this one on the back of a two-week break so the boys are raring to go.
“It will be a good run out for us and a chance to blow the cobwebs away.
“We had two brutal games against Biggar and Dumfries Saints but just about everyone has come back fit, so this game will really do us well.
“Up front especially, we have the likes of Kevin Brown, Callum Carson, Stuart MacDonald and Andrew Findlater back fit. They all played, but they were struggling, while we also have Stevie Rutledge back.
“The only one who will not make this week is Rory Cross, who we are keeping fresh for the league campaign, but Connor Ross did well in the last game so he will play on the wing.”
Highland have won both league matches against their sixth-placed opponents and, having defeated National 1 side Cartha Queen’s Park in the previous round, Carson feels the prospect of a cup run should excite his players.
Promotion is the main priority at Canal Park this season but Carson sees no reason why his team cannot compete on two fronts as the club game reaches the business end of the cam- paign. He said: “We talked about it with the boys, as we saw with the run we had before Christmas momentum is a great thing to have.
“Although we’ve got a bit of disruption with the Six Nations, we have got to get back to winning ways.”
Carson believes his side can take confidence from holding the upper hand in previous encounters with tomorrow’s opponents.
He added: “We have played Preston Lodge twice, we beat them at home and beat them down there too.”
“We need this game before getting back to league”