Club stalwarts put winning cup ahead of personal records

Fraserburgh’s Scott Barbour and Brora Rangers’ Dale Gillespie have reached major individual milestones – but say they are more interested in medals.

The Broch face the Cattachs in the GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup final on Saturday at Harlaw Park, Inverurie.

At the weekend Barbour became the first Fraserburgh player to score 250 goals for the Buchan outfit.

The 32-year-old striker lifted the Highland League Cup with Formartine United in 2018 but would love to help the Broch win it for the first time since 2006.

Barbour said: “I’m chuffed to be the first player to reach 250 for Fraserburgh.

“My next target would be 300. I’d also like to catch Neil Gauld (363) and Cammy Keith (351) with their numbers at Highland League level. I was speaking to Neil last week after he retired and if I could get to 300 for Fraserburgh, it would probably tie in with catching them at a similar time.

“But winning trophies means more than any individual things. Ultimately when you look back on your career you want to look back at the medals won.

“We know it will be a really tough final against Brora, but we’ll be doing our best to win it.

“It would be really special to win the Highland League Cup with Fraserburgh, particularly with the club having not won it since 2006.”

Meanwhile, midfielder Gillespie made his 400th appearance for Brora last week.

The 34-year-old is in his 11th season across two spells at Dudgeon Park and is aiming to claim the Highland League Cup for the third time with Brora – and for the fourth time in total.

Gillespie added: “To have played 400 games for Brora is something I’m very proud of.

“Over my entire Highland League career with Brora, Nairn and Rothes I recently reached 550 games.

“Individual things with appearances and goals are nice things to achieve. But ultimately nobody else probably cares whether I’ve played one game or 400.

“However, if you’ve got a few medals at the end of your career it’s a good reward for the hard work and commitment you’ve shown.

“It’s going to be a very difficult game against Fraserburgh and we’ll certainly need to be at our best to win it.”

Scott Barbour: 250 goals for Fraserburgh.